03/22/07 Bee demand in Idaho

They call it Colony Collapse Disorder. Beekeepers from at least 20 states say the ailment has killed off tens of thousands of honeybee colonies. That in turn threatens the livelihood of commercial beekeepers and puts a strain on farmers and growers who rely on bees to pollinate their crops. BITNER "People don't realize how important pollination and it's done by honeybees, bees in general and that's it." Ron Bitner of Canyon County knows a lot about bees and at this point he says Idaho hasn't been adversely affected. His PhD work is on bees other than honeybees. BITNER "My specialty are leaf cutter bees, alkali bees, bumble bees and what I'm seeing happen is people contacting me wanting to try these other bees to see if they'll work on their crops." The leaf cutter bees have been a good alfalfa seed pollinator in Idaho and Bitner says they're also being used on canola. The bee die-off impact to Idaho is the price hike for using other bees. BITNER "Leaf cutter bee prices, they've been low for the several couple of years but they're starting to come back up but it's been due to the honeybee situation." Beekeepers say if the cause of the bee deaths isn't found soon the entire honeybee industry will be wiped out. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott