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thomas davison

The honey trap: How the demise of Britain's bees could cost us �1.8billion a year
By Tamara Cohen
PUBLISHED: 00:51, 11 April 2012 | UPDATED: 02:56, 11 April 2012

Losing bees would cost Britain �1.8bn to foot the costs of hand-pollinating plants, a study has found.
Researchers at the University of Reading say the decline in their numbers would be disastrous for crops and drive up food prices.
Simon Potts, professor of biodiversity, and his team tested teams hand-pollinating all Britain�s major crops.

Under threat: Numbers of honeybees in managed hives have fallen by half since the 1980s and wild honeybees are nearly extinct
They worked out how many hours it would take them to cover all the crops in Britain and what they would be paid for their time at the minimum wage.
Using humans with paintbrushes to pollinate crops including apples, pears, strawberries, oildseed rape, field beans, courgettes, peaches and plums would cost �1.8bn - the equivalent of 60,000 teachers or nurses.
The shocking figure comes just a week after two studies last week found pesticides are stopping bees finding their way home.

More...Pesticide linked to worrying sharp global decline in honey bee colonies

Numbers of honeybees in managed hives have fallen by half since the 1980s and wild honeybees are nearly extinct. Bumblebees are in slower decline but some species have already been wiped out.
This is the first time experts have calculated the cost of losing bees in this country - which is far greater than the value of their products honey and wax.
Professor Potts said: �It�s a very high figure and just rams the point home of the economic sense of protecting wild pollinators which do an incredible job.
�It�s a no brainer. We need to take action, and the government is just starting to wake up to that.�
The research was released as campaign group Friends of the Earth launches a campaign today (Weds) to save the bee by encouraging gardeners to plant wild flowers, herbs, shrubs and trees to boost their numbers.
They are also encouraging the government to make changes to farming and town planning to help them survive.
A spokesman, Paul de Zylva, said: �Unless we halt the decline in British bees our farmers will have to rely on hand-pollination, sending food prices rocketing.
Decreasing numbers: This is the first time experts have calculated the cost of losing bees in this country - which is far greater than the value of their products honey and wax
�David Cameron must make the changes needed now to give our bees a fighting chance and save Britain billions.
�But individuals can also play their part, by planting trees in the garden like ivy, holly, hazel and willow; which are around all year round.
�Herbs like marjoram, thyme and chives which can be grown in a window box are also good as they provide food for bees all year round, and flowers like crocuses, snowdrop, primrose and foxgloves.�
Bees are facing a variety of threats but recent research has focused on the impact of neonicotinoid pesticides which began being used in the 1990s.
French researchers who tagged 650 honeybees with tiny microchips attached to their necks tracking their movements, found those exposed to a low dose of the insecticide were twice or three times as likely to die away from their hive - as the chemical is attacking their navigation systems.
Another study by scientists at Stirling University in Scotland found that growing colonies exposed to the chemicals - based on nicotine - were smaller and produced 85 per cent fewer Queens which are crucial to their survival as they live through the winter and found new colonies in Spring.
Campaigners are calling for a ban on these chemicals, which are the most widely used for crops in the world, but habitat loss and disease aare also to blame, according to experts.
Bees vital part of the food chain as they pollinate most commercially grown fruit and vegetables.
In places where bees have been wiped out by intensive farming, pesticides or habitat changes, including parts of China, South Africa and Madagascar, hand pollinating is a major drain on resources.
The National Audit Office assessed the value of bees to the economy at �200m a year in 2007, but the crops they pollinate are worth more than �1bn.

The farmers do not care, its all about money in their pockets, its not only about pesticides its about feeding their live stock antibiotics which is putting more money into their pockets but is a real danger to people who are eating their produce.

Its time the farmers took responsibility for what they are doing to the environment including rivers, I also see its the Yellow Peril season again, how many people are made ill from this pollen.
Sue the farmers springs to mind if it makes you ill, after all they are supposed to be growing food you can eat not a subsidised oil to make them even richer.

2Anne · Joined: 04 May 2008 Posts: 399 Location: Norfolk

There is one chemical responsible for the bee decline i read a couple of weeks ago.
This should be banned at once,before its too late.
I agree that the fields of the yellow peril do not help people with asthma and pollen allergies. There is a very high rate of both these conditions in Norfolk and its because of the crops grown.