News stories tagged with "bees"

(05/04/12) This week and next, North Country Public Radio is exploring the lives of people who do traditional work. These are arts and types of industry that people would have been using to make a living in our region a century ago, or even longer. Ted Elk has been a beekeeper for nearly 20 years - with hives from Clayton, to Evans Mills, to Fort Drum. He says it's become much more labor intensive in that time. Julie Grant visited him Hammond. more

(04/04/12) As the Republican primary marches forward, researcher Thomas Seeley is reminded of his work with honeybees. That might sound odd, but Seeley has spent decades studying the relationships in a hive, and says bees have an even longer history than human beings of making decisions democratically. Dr. Seeley is giving a public talk tonight at St. Lawrence University.

He spoke yesterday with Julie Grant about new research that points to certain pesticides as the major reason for the death of bees around the world. Seeley also explained how honeybees decide where to build a new hive, and how that's similar to our own democratic process.

(09/29/11) We get one of every three bites of food from crops pollinated by bees. That's about $15 billion into the U.S. economy each year. But North Country beekeepers are losing huge numbers of their little, busy coworkers.

Apiarists (beekeepers) from around the country--and the world--have been dealing with what's called Colony Collapse Disorder. It's been around for five years now.

Julie Grant visited with some beekeepers, and reports that scientists and the government don't agree on what should be done to help them. more

(02/03/11) Bees need to be warm in order to fly. That's usually not a problem, since it takes millions of round trips to flowers to make a pound of honey. But should they fall idle long enough to cool down, bees fire up their wing muscles by shivering. Dr. Curt Stager and Martha Foley, with more about bees.

(08/07/08) It was two years ago that beekeepers began reporting losing 30 to 90 percent of their hives. The phenomenon has become known as Colony Collapse Disorder. Nationwide, beekeepers have lost 36 percent of their managed colonies this year, compared to 31 percent in 2007. "No bees, no crops," was a common phrase heard earlier this summer at a House Agriculture subcommittee meeting in Washington. Farmers and business owners say food prices could rise even more unless the mysterious decline in honey bees is solved. But that devastating illness, called CCD, hasn't affected North Country hives as much as other parts of the country, although it has made an appearance. Todd Moe spoke to a couple of beekeepers who are expecting a good honey harvest this year.

(06/13/08) Honeybees are dying. Sometimes entire hives are dying and scientists can't figure out exactly why. Some people are trying to help, and one of the ways they're helping is by becoming beekeepers. Rebecca Williams reports there are some beekeepers who actually raise bees in big cities.

(06/11/07) Without bees, close to one third of the food supply could be disrupted. Roughly $12 billion of existing U.S. agricultural activity would be at risk, some $200 million in New York State alone. And no more honey either. So when beekeepers in Europe and the U.S. began reporting massive and mysterious die-offs last year, it quickly became big news. A new term was coined: "Colony Collapse Disorder." Mark Burninghausen's bees produce Squeak Creek Honey in St. Lawrence County. He told Lucy Martin that there's no simple answer to colony collapse.

(04/30/07) Scientists are scrambling to find out why honey bee populations are collapsing. As Lester Graham reports, there are a lot of theories. Some of them are getting more attention than others.

(04/09/07) Millions of honeybees across the country are dying mysteriously. Entire hives or colonies of bees are collapsing. Scientists say it's some new threat. They're scrambling to find answers. As Bob Allen reports, bees are crucial in pollinating billions of dollars worth of crops every spring.

(05/21/02) Martha Foley talks with biologist Bill Romey about native pollinators. They keep a low profile, but were here before the honey bees.