7-2 IAT Breaking Bee News

 Russian Bees Buzz to the United States

The Idaho Farm Bureau’s Jake Putnam  recently posted the following story on his Idaho Farm Bureau blog  spot. With their hives dwindling and varroa mites being cited as the No. 1 cause, American beekeepers are seeking the help of Russian bee populations, according to Russian newspaper RIA Novosti. 

Russian bees are twice as resistant to the tiny parasite due to long-term exposure, potentially building a resistance, cited a North Carolina State University study. The foreign bees also produce equal, if not greater, amounts of honey, and fly in temperatures as cold as -38 degrees Fahrenheit. 

 Then there is this from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Agricultural and chemical heavyweights are getting into the mix. Missouri-based Monsanto Co., which two years ago bought an Israeli bee research company,  s hosting an industry conference on bee health at its headquarters in Creve Coeur. Syngenta  and Bayer Crop Science  are also pursuing research as to the cause of colony collapse disorder. And then this from John Hutchinson, hobby beekeeper in Boise for 30 years. “We don’t have very many this year. This is the first year I haven’t had hives.  One hive was empty of bees, the other hive was gone so maybe that was colony collapse disorder and the other hive was full of dead bees. Mites, I don’t typically have mites, but that is a consideration.”