Honeybees and Pesticides in North Carolina
by Kate Pattison

North Carolinians know the value of the honeybee, which is why it holds the lofty distinction of “state insect.” Farmers rely on honeybees as crucial pollinators who have a great deal of influence over yield and quality of their crops. Honey and beeswax are used for a wide variety of consumer products ranging from foods and remedies to health and beauty products. Tragically, over the past half-century the domestic honeybee population has suffered a drastic 50% decline, due to mites, other parasites, and widespread pesticide use. Environmental Pesticide Contamination Pesticide contamination is a serious concern for beekeepers in NC and across the country. Drift from pesticide applications on nearby fields can wipe out entire populations. Honeybees are in greatest danger when pesticides are applied to crops in flower. Worker bees gathering nectar and pollen can be directly exposed to residues on the flowers, or they may carry pesticide-contaminated pollen back to the hive and expose other honeybees.

Honeybees are very important pollinators. Their populations are threatened by pesticide contamination. Photo: M. C. Cassino.

Frances Hill Stroud remembers her grandfather tending honeybees in an old woven-style hive on their family land. Frances still lives in her family’s pre-Civil War era home near Deep Run, NC, and kept three hives of honeybees there for ten years. Frances used to give the honey to friends and family, and shared her experience and advice with several neighbors, who also kept hives.

A few years ago, aerial pesticide application killed all of Frances Stroud’s honeybees. Her land, owned and occupied by her family for generations, is now surrounded by cotton fields. In the summer months, Frances would protect her three hives of bees from pesticide spraying as best she could. She would request that the cotton farmers notify her before spraying, and then seal the hives until the danger passed. One unfortunate day five or six years ago, the farmers neglected to notify her - by the time the airplanes were over the neighboring fields, she knew it was too late. Within a few days, all of her bees were dead. Stroud is sure they died from pesticide exposure. “You don’t lose all of them at once from other things,” she said.

Frances Stroud no longer keeps honeybees since her three hives were killed. Her neighbors who once shared the hobby have since passed away. But, she explains, some honeybees have taken up residence in an outbuilding on her land. Frances has not been able to use the building as much as she would like to in the summertime, “but I still like to watch them go in and out,” she said.

Pests of Bees
J.D. Foust is the President of the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association (NCSBA), the largest state beekeeping organization in the U.S. The NCSBA acts as a network, where beekeepers can share information on products and methods of pest control through personal experience.

Varroa mites, tracheal mites and the small hive beetle are the most threatening pests of North Carolina’s honeybees. There are a number of treatments designed to eliminate the pests, but application of chemical pesticides can be dangerous for the bees, as well as the beekeepers.

Current research on apiculture has devoted much attention to the elimination of pests, particularly without the use of harmful chemicals. The Beneficial Insects Research Unit (BIRU) of the Agricultural Research Service division of the USDA is currently studying the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae, which is highly pathogenic to Varroa mites. Scientists at Princeton University, Penn State University and the University of Delaware in Newark are attempting to isolate the genes of bees that are naturally resistant to disease. Alternatives such as essential oils (like wintergreen, patchouli, spearmint and tea tree) are being studied at the University of West Virginia. J.D. Foust says essential oils are used by North Carolina beekeepers to control pests, and recommends menthol for tracheal mites.

NCSBA strives to replenish declining numbers of honeybees and beekeepers in North Carolina, which are so important for both conventional and organic agriculture. The NCSBA offers courses in conjunction with North Carolina State University Extension Service to train new beekeepers at locations all across the state.

Kate Pattison is a Toxic Free NC Volunteer.

Toxic Free News is a publication of
Toxic Free North Carolina
206 New Bern Place, Raleigh, NC 27601, (919) 833-5333, Toll-free 1-877-NO-SPRAY
http://www.toxicfreenc.org

Mission: Toxic Free NC advocates for alternatives to toxic pesticides in North Carolina by empowering people to make sound decisions about their health and environment.

Staff: Executive Director: Fawn Pattison, Program Coordinator: Billie Karel
Interns: Ghassan Hamra, Molly Stapleton

Board of Directors: Allen Spalt, President; Katherine M. Shea, Vice President; Jane Sharp MacRae, Secretary; Mary Jo Windley; Savi Horne; Carolyn Prince; Cindy Soehner; Billie Rogers, Emeritus.

Contributors: Kate Pattison and Molly McKee Stapleton.
Editor and Webmaster: Billie Karel

Subscribe, unsubscribe, or update your subscription information.