Oregon farmers probe bee die-offs
Colony collapse could have dire impact on agriculture
Monday, April 7, 2008 10:50 AM PDT
CORVALLIS (AP) — Oregon farmers and beekeepers are discussing with officials from the Oregon State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences ways to find a specialist to tackle honey bee hive die-offs, apparently higher than usual in the Northwest this winter.
Many farmers rely on bees to pollinate crops, and worry that a mysterious illness that has killed billions of bees across the United States is now in Oregon.
The die-off is linked to a virus that can be transmitted by mites and could result in sharp drops in key Oregon crops, including cherries near Hood River, apples and pears near Medford, blueberries in the Willamette Valley and carrot seed in Madras.
‘‘Without the pollinating services, we’d basically be broke,’’ said Robert Whannell, who farms 25 acres of cranberries between Astoria and Seaside, and brings 30 hives there every year.
He said an industry study estimates that without honeybees, the cranberry yield would drop by up to 90 percent.
Whannell helped coordinate the meeting after talking to his Yakima-based beekeeper, who lost 4,000 of 13,000 his hives this year.
‘‘There were some pretty big losses over the winter,’’ said Chuck Sowers of Canby, president of the Oregon Beekeepers’ Association. Sowers said he lost about 40 percent of his 1,300 hives.
OSU is surveying beekeepers to try to determine whether Oregon hives are declining and why, as well as offering diagnostic services.
‘‘This is very recent. Up until this spring, many of the beekeepers in Oregon didn’t report unusual losses,’’ said Stella Coakley, associate dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences.
She wondered if bad winter weather contributed to hive losses in the state.
The so-called colony collapse disorder has struck more than 50 percent of commercial honeybee hives in the United States.
Oregon State University’s last full-time honey bee expert, Michael Burgett, retired about five years ago.
‘‘A similar position wasn’t created, but that’s not unusual,’’ Coakley said. ‘‘We have far fewer faculty than we had 10 years ago. ... There have been substantial budget cuts.’’
Industry funding or grants would help create a new job, which would cost about $100,000 in salary and benefits, she said.
Sowers said beekeepers have started a professorship endowment with $25,000, but need more than $1 million for it to be effective.
He hopes other agricultural groups will contribute.
Tad Buford and Karen Finley of Queen Bee Honey Company, who shuttle about 1,800 hives around Western states, weren’t having problems this year. But the couple, who live off Bellfountain Road, said they would like to see OSU hire a new bee expert.
She said there is no local research on the problem.
Diseases and pests may overtake the best local practices, they said, and a bee professor would be identify the problem more quickly.
‘‘We don’t know what the future looks like,’’ Finley said. ‘‘We hear a lot of stories, people who are having unpredictable losses.’’
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Information from: Gazette-Times, http://www.gtconnect.com
