Last winter’s cold killed more than half of West Virginia’s honeybee colonies, more than a third in both North Carolina and Maryland,
and almost a third in Virginia.
“We normally have pretty mild winters, but we had a good cold snap at the end, and a lot of beekeepers didn’t get a chance to go check on their bees,” said Leon Knight, a Suffolk Virginia beekeeper.
As a result, according to Knight, there wasn’t enough sugar in their hives for bees to make it through the nasty weather between January and April.
Combined with other factors, the cold caused the demise of almost a third of Virginia’s honeybee colonies between October and April, according to the eighth annual “Bee Informed” national survey.
Insect-pollinated plants the direct or indirect source of about 1/3 of our human diet
“The stakes are high,” says this article in the Suffolk News Herald.
“These pollinators are essential for the development of our crops and crucial to the state’s $52-billion agriculture industry. In fact, insect-pollinated plants are the direct or indirect source of approximately one-third of our human diet,” stated Keith Tignor, Virginia state apiarist at the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, in a news release.
Kenny points out that colony losses last winter were also higher than the national average in surrounding states: 35 percent in North Carolina, 37 percent in Maryland and 52 percent in West Virginia, for instance.
Every colony lost costs a beekeeper about $1,500, according to Kenny. But the cost to the nation is much higher.
I keep warning you: Make sure that you have a food supply.
http://www.suffolknewsherald.com/2014/07/28/cold-stings-bee-colonies/
Thanks to Caroline in West Virginia for this link