We’ll be hearing from Steve Weber, founder of High Plains Honey (shown here with his wife holding bottles of honey), this coming Saturday at Breakfast with Matt (GA-Bradley Fair) about the state of our vanishing bee population and what’s being done to “bring them back home.”
Beekeepers have thought for a long time that chemicals sprayed on wheat fields just before harvest have had a deleterious effect on our national bee population. Round-Up is one of them.
Chemical companies, such as Monsanto and Bayer, have actually patented active compound combinations of toxins that are not tested by the EPA, but cause untold havoc with bees that pollinate our orchards and gardens and literally guarantee our farmers their next yields. Bayer alone holds 56 patents on dangerous chemicals that impact our bees (and by extension, the health of all of us.)
Steve Weber has lost hives three years in a row as a direct result of Kansas wheat being sprayed with a fungicide/neonicotinoid mix. Strobin fungicides inhibit enzymes in insects and render neonicotinoids more toxic. These same enzymes also change the factor of toxicity in chemicals used in miticides, some by nearly 2000 times!
“Think of a beehive which will fly a three-mile radius to forage for pollen and nectar,” says Steve, “often bringing in multiple chemicals which can affect the health of the hive. Add this to the already-compromised health of hives due to drought and poor nutrition, and you get the picture of a perfect storm.”
Bees literally control the food of the world.
For more information, check out this website: http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/neonicotinoid-pesticide-use-some-crops-harm-honeybees-epa-finds-n491371
Steve will be with us at 8 a.m., and he’ll be bringing along an active encased hive for all to see.
We hope you’ll be with us for a FREE breakfast. RSVP to Linzi at 634-1088. Bee there, or bee square!
