3 ms·

Static hives on farms sound like a good idea but still the pesticides will be a problem. We are the problem, not the bees.

electromagnetic 17y ago
As the article says, two years ago the entire Florida orange industry used virtually zero pesticides, it is currently a major exception that they are using pesticides due to a disease outbreak. When it is an exception, you wouldn't be having year-on-year problems of colony collapses. However you are right for most crops. However pesticides are not the problem, it's how they're used which is the problem. No pesticide should be used when the crop is flowering and it requires pollination, this is just flat-out common sense which is being ignored by the farming industry. The problem is that farmers are opting for a lower maintenance cost at a major increased risk of full-out crop failure. However, with government subsidise to support farms that have catastrophic crop failures there is little incentive for the farmers to change their practices. Example: It would be like everyone using candles and oil lamps to light their houses and when a fire eventually starts by one and burns down a town house complex, the government steps in and pays everyone to rebuild their houses. No one is going to stop using the candles and oil lamps until their houses stop being rebuilt for them. This is what happens for many farmers globally. Most of the US farm subsidies goes directly to supporting farmers with failed crops, a fair whack likely of which were caused by improper pesticide usage. Pesticides can be applied directly to the soil to destroy grubs and mites. They can then be applied during the leafing stages of the plant growth to kill off butterflies and such laying eggs that become caterpillars and such. Next it can be pollinated a month to a few days (for a fast acting pesticide) before the crop flowers. Finally you can pesticide again once the pollination is complete. The biggest problem with pesticides is that certain varieties infect the food (the pesticide grain size is equal to a pollen grain, so it attaches to the bee and works its way into their food supply). These pesticides can be dangerous for months to bees, but more dangerously can prevent new workers and drones from being born and can kill the hive by attrition. Static hives for a responsible farmer is the ideal. The farmers would then know more about their crops as a whole by knowing more about the pollinators that support them. It really is a common sense approach, a farmer should know the most about their crops than anyone else and the honeybee is an integral part of their crops in the quantities they want to grow.

electromagnetic 17y ago

As the article says, two years ago the entire Florida orange industry used virtually zero pesticides, it is currently a major exception that they are using pesticides due to a disease outbreak. When it is an exception, you wouldn't be having year-on-year problems of colony collapses. However you are right for most crops. However pesticides are not the problem, it's how they're used which is the problem. No pesticide should be used when the crop is flowering and it requires pollination, this is just flat-out common sense which is being ignored by the farming industry. The problem is that farmers are opting for a lower maintenance cost at a major increased risk of full-out crop failure. However, with government subsidise to support farms that have catastrophic crop failures there is little incentive for the farmers to change their practices. Example: It would be like everyone using candles and oil lamps to light their houses and when a fire eventually starts by one and burns down a town house complex, the government steps in and pays everyone to rebuild their houses. No one is going to stop using the candles and oil lamps until their houses stop being rebuilt for them. This is what happens for many farmers globally. Most of the US farm subsidies goes directly to supporting farmers with failed crops, a fair whack likely of which were caused by improper pesticide usage. Pesticides can be applied directly to the soil to destroy grubs and mites. They can then be applied during the leafing stages of the plant growth to kill off butterflies and such laying eggs that become caterpillars and such. Next it can be pollinated a month to a few days (for a fast acting pesticide) before the crop flowers. Finally you can pesticide again once the pollination is complete. The biggest problem with pesticides is that certain varieties infect the food (the pesticide grain size is equal to a pollen grain, so it attaches to the bee and works its way into their food supply). These pesticides can be dangerous for months to bees, but more dangerously can prevent new workers and drones from being born and can kill the hive by attrition. Static hives for a responsible farmer is the ideal. The farmers would then know more about their crops as a whole by knowing more about the pollinators that support them. It really is a common sense approach, a farmer should know the most about their crops than anyone else and the honeybee is an integral part of their crops in the quantities they want to grow.