In 950 AD, the first beekeeping document was created. An Irish monk noted their hives had mysteriously died off.


Flemming G (1871) Animal plagues: Their history, nature and prevention. London: Chapman and Hall.

Bees have been recording dying off en masse ever since. Just like they died before. What was the cause before pesticides existed? The same cause as kills bees today, except lacking $3 billion in revenue and allies in corporate journalism; parasites. 

The new USDA survey of beekeepers is out and it shows the usual variation in losses, but most importantly it shows that the top killer of bees is still varroa mites. Just as has been the case as long as these surveys have been done. And you need chemicals to kill them. Organic chemicals don't work, which is why there is so little "organic" honey.(1) 

Environmentalists are going to do a fundraising campaign noting that 'colonies' - five or more hives - were down 7 percent, but that is still 2,700,000, a fantastic number, yet they will still try to claim bees are on the verge of dying and, since they don't know any science, that our food supply is at risk.(2) All due to pesticides, but it isn't true. Trucking accidents have killed more bees than modern pesticides like neonicitonoid pesticides have . Delta airlines killed more bees in one flight than neonics has in decades of us. The real killer remains mites. In April through June of 2022, 47.5 percent of hives reported being infected. In that same period, colony losses were 13 percent. When nearly half are infected, beekeepers are right to worry about a war of extinction by environmentalists. Mercenaries at Club Sierra will just move to a new battleground, but half of beekeeping is gone without chemicals. 

If you will go to a rally to see this idiot pretending to be a dead bee, you haven't read this far.

It's good fundraising to blame neonicotinoid pesticides, and people who believe in acupuncture, ghosts, and organic food are overwhelmingly most likely to also believe a seed treatment kills bees and add to the coffers of environmental groups. It just isn't science.

NOTES:

(1) And it's either fake or expensive. But if you believe otherwise, enjoy overpaying for fake olive oil and wasabi also.

(2) Maybe, if you consider your 'food supply' gourmet almonds or something else where bees have to be flown and trucked, like Alaska and California, for pollination.