Agriculture, or the practice of planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops has many more layers than most realize. One overlooked factor is the role of certain species of animals known as pollinators in speeding up the breeding process of plants through pollination. One of the most important pollinators, the honey bee transfers the genetic info of male and female plants through pollen, and in return gets nectar to feed its colony (“Pollination”). While honey bees have been around for millions of years, “The yearly USDA-sponsored industry survey has recorded an average 30% loss of honeybee colonies in a defined window of time over the past several years” which could mean trouble for the plant life that depends on bee pollination (“Disappearing
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Shocking still is the strange phenomenon happening across the world in which worker bees abandon their perfectly stable bee hives, decreasing the hive’s chance of survival through the winter months. Now known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the worker bees abandon the colony leaving the it unprepared for the upcoming winter, and has contributed to the 30% decrease of bee hives yearly stated earlier. Some of the first sufferers of CCD were keepers who rented out bees to local growers: These beekeepers found that bees hives returning from farmers who had neighbors with pesticide treated crops (specifically neonicotinoid based pesticides) had begun to collapse several months after their visit (Suryanarayanan). Perhaps the worst part of it all is that the EPA (environmental protection agency) does not recognise the data collected by beekeepers as sound enough evidence to take neonicotinoid pesticides off the …show more content…
Use of pesticides such as imidacloprid have skyrocketed, as "Over 120 countries use imidacloprid under the Bayer label on more than 140 crop varieties”, harming many native bee populations around the world (Scott). If the US wants to help bee populations, it can gradually ban synthetic pesticides alongside countries like France and Germany, who both have banned imichlorpid after connections between the pesticide and many bee deaths in their respective regions (Scott). It’s important to keep in mind that farmers still need these pesticides, so a ban would have to take time and allow companies to create new pesticides that don’t damage bees If the US doesn’t want to outright ban the products, it must invest in promising solutions such as gmo crops if it wants to save the US bee population. These new solutions not only could limit the amount of pesticides sprayed on plants (helping not only bees but birds and smaller mammals who are shown to be slightly affected by pesticides), but can also further agriculture and lead to new advances that better human
Shocking still is the strange phenomenon happening across the world in which worker bees abandon their perfectly stable bee hives, decreasing the hive’s chance of survival through the winter months. Now known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the worker bees abandon the colony leaving the it unprepared for the upcoming winter, and has contributed to the 30% decrease of bee hives yearly stated earlier. Some of the first sufferers of CCD were keepers who rented out bees to local growers: These beekeepers found that bees hives returning from farmers who had neighbors with pesticide treated crops (specifically neonicotinoid based pesticides) had begun to collapse several months after their visit (Suryanarayanan). Perhaps the worst part of it all is that the EPA (environmental protection agency) does not recognise the data collected by beekeepers as sound enough evidence to take neonicotinoid pesticides off the …show more content…
Use of pesticides such as imidacloprid have skyrocketed, as "Over 120 countries use imidacloprid under the Bayer label on more than 140 crop varieties”, harming many native bee populations around the world (Scott). If the US wants to help bee populations, it can gradually ban synthetic pesticides alongside countries like France and Germany, who both have banned imichlorpid after connections between the pesticide and many bee deaths in their respective regions (Scott). It’s important to keep in mind that farmers still need these pesticides, so a ban would have to take time and allow companies to create new pesticides that don’t damage bees If the US doesn’t want to outright ban the products, it must invest in promising solutions such as gmo crops if it wants to save the US bee population. These new solutions not only could limit the amount of pesticides sprayed on plants (helping not only bees but birds and smaller mammals who are shown to be slightly affected by pesticides), but can also further agriculture and lead to new advances that better human