Honeybees are in peril. You probably already know this from the many news reports over the last few years about mites and Colony Collapse Disorder.

This past Saturday, many local beekeepers got more bad news. A truckload of honeybees bound for Minnesota from California encountered difficulties that led to all the thousands upon thousands of bees dying en route.

Many beekeepers, myself included, replenish their honeybee populations each spring by buying “packages” of bees from suppliers in the south or California. Packages include two or three pounds of worker bees and a queen that establish a new colony. We often use packages to replace colonies that didn’t make it through the winter.

We need these packages to arrive in the spring in so there’s time to rear enough worker bees to gather nectar when lots of plants are blooming. If there are not yet enough bees when the most nectar flows, nectar will be left ungathered. That means less honey, and perhaps more importantly, incomplete pollination of crops such as apples, berries, melons, cucumbers, pumpkins and so on.

I feel badly for beekeepers, some of whom are fresh from the University of Minnesota’s beekeeping class and eager to put their new knowledge to work. We need all the beekeepers we can get. Others affected are people who depend on honeybees for part of their income. Some, like me, just enjoy working bees because it grounds us to the changing seasons and we appreciate the magic of making honey.

I also feel badly for the local distributor who has to answer lots of questions from those of us who are trying to figure out what to do now. He’s been great. And I know it has to be a very painful experience for him. If his customers don’t have bees, they won’t need bee supplies, which he sells, either. I want him to stay in business. I feel, too, for the bee supplier in California. And the truck driver. And farmers. And, of course, bees. As if they didn’t have enough challenges.

And I feel a little frightened that an accident in a storm two states away can impact so many people here. I can’t help but think about how tenuous our food supply chain can be. It’s mighty easy to take for granted that what’s in my refrigerator now will always be available. I might complain that it costs more to restock it, but at least it’s available.

I don’t want to over react to this accident. After all, we’ve got two hives that did make it through the winter, so even if we don’t get the four packages we ordered, we are still likely to have enough honey for baking and tea. But I’m keenly aware that others might not be so fortunate. Then again, I might not always be, either.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 8:08 am and is filed under Bees. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.