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[The
essay below, by Cam Fitzgerald, a frequent contributor to Ricks Picks, is a
stark reminder that we could soon be facing problems far more serious, even,
than the collapse of the economy. For in fact, the alarming die-off of
bumblebees and other cross-pollinators that Cam has written about could
presage the devastation of food supplies around the world. Cam, a beekeeper
himself, warns that, unlike global warming, which is happening slowly, the
death of hives around the world has been so precipitous that a solution needs
to be found and implemented soon, lest the food chain suffer catastrophic and
irreparable harm. Although a pesticide called Clothianidin
is suspected, we don’t have time for endless political debate. Time is
running out, and that is why I would urge readers to spread awareness of the
problem by disseminating a link to this commentary as far and wide as possible.
RA]
Rick has invited me to contribute an
article discussing my views of how the world will look in the coming years. I
am afraid I have very, very bad news for everyone though. My story is not
science-fiction nor is it conjecture and yet it has drawn me to a very sad
conclusion following events over the past few years. The issue that follows
has ramifications that may even suggest the eventual collapse of society
itself.
Let me explain.
In the latter part of the 1800’s a
novel new chemical was developed called DDT. This synthetic chemical’s
true calling and use was not realized, though, until sometime around the
Second World War when a Swiss chemist named Paul Hermann Mueller first
discovered its properties as an effective insecticide. He won the Nobel Prize
for his efforts. The chemical found widespread use in agriculture and in the
control of malaria-bearing mosquitoes, and for decades was one of the major
means of pest control on crops. But our birds of prey were dying off in
America as a result and there were strong suspicions that agricultural
chemicals were to blame.
Evidence slowly mounted over a period of
years to prove that the thin, crumbly shells of eggs laid by eagles and other
raptors highest up on the food chain were the result of DDT contamination. A
decade of environmental activism armed with a growing body of scientific
studies led to significant political pressures before the chemical was
finally (and permanently) banned from use in the United States.
And just in the nick of time too. The
Peregrine Falcon, as a result of DDT poisoning that was accumulating in the
birds bodies, had come within a feather of joining the list of extinct birds
in North America. In California, the numbers of Peregrines known to exist
barely exceeded ten nesting pairs in the year of the ban. The American eagle
itself was on the endangered list, and a long list of predator raptors were
close to joining the chorus of the condemned. The year was 1972.
Flash forward to today. The new enemy is
also an insecticide. This time it has a much more ominous overtone, however,
because this time the ultimate victim at the top of the food chain is you and
I, and the endgame may well terminate with a global famine and bitter wars
over agricultural croplands that support grains.
Clothianidin’s Role
No, we will not be poisoned directly by
this chemical, but we could face serious food shortages and the loss of
critical crops that will spell the end of the good times as we now know them.
I only wish this were an urban myth. Most of you likely have no idea how
close we already are to a cataclysmic failure of agricultural production
brought on by the use of these chemicals. Judge for yourselves and read on.
The name of this chemical is a little
more complicated this time around, and those suffering the worst effects are
not nearly so warm and cuddly to most people as birds are, but the outcome of
its use could potentially prove devastating. Commercially, this product is
called Clothianidin. It is known as a neonicotinoid to farm guys and gals, and it specializes
in killing bugs on crops.
Some of the victims unfortunately, mere
insects to most people, are also the primary commercial means of pollination
for crop production across the globe, responsible for doing the hard work
that enables farms to produce 35% of all the foods we eat. I am talking about
bees, of course. And they are dying off globally in such staggering numbers
each and every year that the food chain itself will soon become seriously
compromised if solutions are not found, and quickly.
70% Hive Failure Rate
Just two months back, we received the
results in Saskatchewan for the winter mortality of the year 2009/2010, and
the outcomes were not good -- better than in the last few years, but still
dismal. Over 21% of all bee colonies had not survived over-wintering. We did
relatively well. On Vancouver Island almost 70% of all hive colonies failed
to survive until spring. Reports out the United States, Europe and China
reveal that as many as one third of all hive colonies have perished in the
last few years, and it is not uncommon to hear of individual beekeepers who
were completely wiped out.
I know a few beekeepers in my province
and after talking to them can tell you that the news they are giving me is
not positive. There is a sense of foreboding for the future. One fellow in
particular has just this past week informed me he was no longer keeping bees
for honey production. He related that he had suffered a near complete and
total loss of all his hives two years ago. I was shocked because I knew he
was a serious, full-time beekeeper with hundreds of hives.
This guy loved his work. He related how
the end came about as all but a dozen of his hives were dead when he opened
them up for the spring season and that it was over. He was wiped out, his
business finished. There was no way he had the extra resources on hand to buy
packaged live bees out of Australia or New Zealand at more than 140 dollars
per colony to repopulate hundreds of dead hives.
Mite Infestation
‘Endemic’
Being a stand-up kind of guy, he is not
prepared to blame Bayer Crop Sciences (the patent holder of Clothianidin) for his losses, either. He knows his bees
died off suspiciously and suspects neonicotinoid
pesticides which are used extensively on prairie canola fields are the root
cause that weakened his colonies and allowed mites and other infection to
overcome his bees. He is just not prepared to go on the record that Clothianidin might be responsible. Bayer naturally enough
denies the claims made by both environmental groups and beekeepers alike.
He says point blank that he does not
know what the problem is except that mites played a big role. Mite
infestations are now endemic in most bee keeping operations in Canada and for
that matter all around the world. These tiny bugs feast on live bee larvae in
one case or infest the trachea of adults in another bringing death to
colonies that are not treated. The question remains about why so many
colonies became so weakened in the first place, though. There is a consensus
amongst the beekeepers I talked to who are also reluctant to point fingers
without more hard data. It does not help that this group has no federal or
provincial representation with any muscle to back them up or help fund
solutions to their problems.
Others are not so shy, though, and
several European Governments have already responded by banning this
substance. They are blaming Bayer directly and demanding more research to
back up the claims that bees are being decimated, at least indirectly, by the
extreme toxicity of this new pesticide and those in the neonicotinoid
family amongst others. My friend does not think it a coincidence that the
advent of the widespread use of Neonicotinoids on
Canola crops and the collapse of his honeybee population were linked in time.
His practices had not changed over the many, many years he was in business
but something in the environment did. But what?
Other
Cross-Pollinators Dying
You may ask why we should worry about
bees if there are always more available to be imported from other countries?
You might imagine this is an easily cured problem that can be resolved by
just deploying plenty of fresh cash. You would be wrong. You see, bees
represent only a fraction of the pollinator group, and much of the important
work done by these other related creatures happens beyond the oversight of
commercial beekeeping operations and outside the scope of human management.
They do the majority of the work in many cases and we cannot survive without
them.
There is now a battle under way in the
insect world and it affects a multitude more of these tiny creatures than
imaginable, so the troubles go well beyond the realm of commercial bee
operations. The problem is that there are no advocates for the wild
pollinators that are also in steep decline. Nobody restocks them when their
populations dwindle and few even notice their passing to comment on the
problem. Indeed, in a recent report out of the University of Illinois
released in January by the “The National Academy of Sciences”
(PNAS) a group of researchers has confirmed our worst fears in reporting that
96% of four types of bumblebees in a study region that encompasses the United
States have disappeared. The word devastating comes immediately to mind and
extinction has become a probability in some cases.
A clear connection meanwhile has been
established by researchers into the cause and effect of agricultural
chemicals and the Colony Collapse Disorder that is wiping out bees in the
United States but much less is known about the fate of all the other
pollinators who go without representation. We do know they are also
disappearing.
Insecticides
‘Too Good’
The problem seems to be that this new class of insecticides are just too good. Too
affordable and effective, too. That is cold comfort to beekeepers across the
country and around the globe who are now the casualties of this new chemical
regime and who are folding up their operations as the extremely high losses
of colonies renders their business insolvent.
Beekeepers simply cannot sustain regular
bee population declines of 30, 40 and 50 percent annually and still remain
viable. No bees means no honey. No honey means no beekeepers. No beekeepers means no
bee business and that therefore spells disaster for crops dependant on the
industry for pollination. What few people realize or even consider is that
most beekeeping operations are small, family-run businesses where the trade
is passed on from father to son. These are not big, deep-pocketed
multinational farm corporations. Just one hard push and they are all gone.
Just like that in a blink of an eye. Crisis time. And now that time is here.
In Saskatchewan there is not yet
acknowledgment that we even have Colony Collapse Disorder despite the fact
that losses have been in the double digits and even exceeding 35% for several
years now. What we do have is hives that are under tremendous stress from
“mites,” and some insist that we can overcome the issue from a
management perspective alone.
Not Everyone Agrees
Not everyone agrees. Bees have always
had their fair share of disease and infestations. This situation is
different, though, and suggests that bee immune systems are being compromised
by environmental toxicity so that they are unable to adequately fight off
attackers. The historical average for over-wintering colony losses rarely
exceeded 15% not so long ago and was typically only at 10%. That is a number
any good beekeeper can recover from and surmount.
So we are on borrowed time and this is
decidedly not an issue like global warming, for example, that suggests
serious trouble at some distant unknown time in the future. The problem with
the widespread losses of pollinators across the globe is an event that is
happening right now today with alarming speed and ferocity and it is
therefore amongst the most urgent of concerns with regard to global food
security.
On March 11, the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) published a report entitled
Global Honey Bee Colony Disorders and Other Threats to Insects wherein it
discusses the losses of pollinators across the globe. They have used some of
the strongest language I have seen to date while addressing the topic.
‘Cocktail
Effect’
According to that report “The
increasing use of chemicals in agriculture, including systemic insecticides
and those used to coat seeds, is being found to be damaging or toxic to bees.
Some can, in combination, be even more potent to pollinators, a phenomenon
known as the “cocktail effect.” U.N. Under-Secretary-General Achim Steiner said: "The way humanity manages or
mismanages its nature-based assets, including pollinators, will in part
define our collective future in the 21st Century. The fact is, that of the 100
crop species that provide 90 per cent of the world's food, over 70 are
pollinated by bees." The report then adds ominously “….that
tens of thousands of plant species could be lost in coming years unless
conservation efforts are stepped up….the decline of bee populations has
serious consequences for food security”.
Crops like canola, berries, nuts and
almost all fruits and vegetables that people depend upon for basic sustenance
and food variety could virtually disappear from store shelves over the coming
years. No, I am not kidding. The question we have to ask is this: Will we as
a population have sufficient time to mobilize our resources and efforts to
prevent a global food calamity before it is too late or will we just
collectively wither as the beekeeping industry falls apart before our very
eyes? Time is very short now, and this is about to turn into a problem that
crosses all borders.
Nor does it help that the vast majority
of beekeepers in this country of mine for example are in their mid to late
Fifties or that few newcomers want to enter the business due to its problems
and risks. Most of these older guys and gals are headed for retirement
already. And nobody is coming up behind them with the capital to sustain the
regular heavy losses and stick with the business. So now the professionals
themselves are headed for extinction.
Beekeeping Business
Dying
The business itself may be dying. The
extremely high mortality rates we see in bees are now testing the fortitude
of the whole industry and rendering some weaker operations non-economic.
Plenty of guys just want to sell and get out altogether. It is not worth it
anymore. Does that not give anyone else cause for concern?
And this I think may the greatest threat
of all. Bees may well survive into the future, but if there are not people
out there placing hives where they are required as the growing seasons change
and keeping our pollinators well stocked, alive and healthy then we will be
looking at much lower crop yields in the future. From an economic perspective
it is easy to see why there will be considerable pressure put on increasing
the production of alternative crops like grains for example as these do not
require the services of bees. Corn too has a stellar future as it usually
succeeds at wind-blown pollination and is therefore immune to sudden bee
die-off. As our diets are changed due to dwindling food varieties and poor
crop yields resulting from the failure of our flowering plants to produce
seasonal fruits there will be a concurrent rise in demand for alternatives.
Seaweed likely has a big future.
At this moment in time we are all at
risk, though, and there is a clear threat to our global population as a
result of the decline of our wild and domestic pollinators. We face a
probable human depopulation if bees are lost and it will be because of our
arrogant and widespread use of agricultural chemicals that are relied upon to
ensure higher crop yields. The threat is not just imminent, it has already
arrived.
Poor Areas More
Adaptable
Ironically enough the populations
expected to be least affected are those representing the poorest on this
planet, as they often do not practice modern farming techniques nor is
pesticide use widespread for the simple reason it is not affordable. These
people are further indemnified as their populations are already agrarian and
the percentage of those living rurally is much greater than in North America
where fewer than 2% of us live on the farm. The closer connections to farm
life and the land means that poor farmers are more able to adapt to changing
circumstances as they are the direct custodians of their own well being.
I do not therefore think it is an
understatement to suggest that global food stocks
are now at grave risk nor that the loss of bees and related pollinators is
the single greatest threat the world now faces. We will almost certainly see
widespread starvation over the coming decades if solutions cannot be found
quickly to the ongoing pollinator disaster and if governments do not act to
intervene in what is shaping up to be a worldwide calamity in the insect
world.
Our own security is now on the line as
the day of the bee turns to the day of the Dodo and true food scarcity
becomes a reality. The good times we know of when fields of swollen crops
were covering the vastness of the prairies could well become just another of
the memories of days gone by. Just good old days.
Like the days when we still had bees to
pollinate crops and help feed the billions who populate this world of ours.
Like the days when there were still beekeepers and professional custodians of
the insect world. Like the days before chemical solutions to farming damned
us all in the same way DDT nearly damned the Peregrine Falcon and the
American Eagle to footnotes in an Audubon textbook.
See, it really is all about food after
all.
Rick Ackerman
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