Summary
The U.S. beekeeping industry is experiencing unprecedented losses, with hundreds of millions of bees dying over the past eight months.
Blake Shook, a leading beekeeper, called it “the worst bee loss in recorded history.”
Researchers remain uncertain about the cause, pointing to potential factors like habitat changes and weather patterns.
Beekeeping operations are struggling to survive, raising concerns about food security and the sustainability of crop production.
Wild bees or farmed bees?
It’s the European honeybee no doubt. The native species may even do better with this loss, but it doesn’t fix the pollination issue for our food.
Not if the native species are also susceptible to the same cause of death. If that’s the case, the European honeybee deaths could be an indicator, correlated with the uncounted deaths of the native species.
Doesn’t matter in my opinion when it comes to the western honeybee. They’re not native to the Americas. But they’re specifically citing beekeepers.