- In 2006, something mysterious
started happening to the honeybees.
They were disappearing from their hives,
just flying away and not coming back.
Beekeepers across the country reported losing
anywhere from 30 to 90% of their beehives.
These losses were unprecedented, fast,
and no one knew what was causing it.
The strange phenomenon was dubbed colony collapse disorder,
and it soon got widespread coverage on major news outlets.
- Bee colonies have been dying off.
- Honeybees now in danger of disappearing.
- A massive, mysterious reduction in the bee population.
- What agriculture and scientists
continue to fear ...
- Is a phenomenon called ...
- Colony Collapse Disorder.
- Some of the biggest commercial beekeepers,
their industry may be on the brink of extinction.
- And this was cause for concern
because, for such a small insect,
honeybees have a huge impact on our food supply.
As honeybee colonies collapsed,
so too could our agriculture system.
Talk about a major buzzkill.
But despite years of panicked media coverage,
and the warnings of an imminent beepocalypse,
today the number of honeybee colonies
are the highest they've been in 20 years.
So, what happened?
How did we get the beepocalypse so wrong?
After picking up to stories
that bees were mysteriously vanishing,
the media was quick to declare disaster.
They imagined what life would be like without bees,
and warned that a beepocalypse was coming.
And in 2013, National Public Radio
declared we were hitting a crisis point for crops.
A share of the blame was given to everything
from genetically modified crops, and pesticides,
to even cellphones and wifi
messing with bees' sense of direction.
Major companies like Cheerios and Haagen-Dazs
launched save the bee campaigns,
and even the Obama administration
developed a national strategy
to promote honeybees and other pollinators.
- Oh no, it's a bee.
That's okay, guys.
Bees are good.
- So, why was there so much concern
about bees in the first place?
Well, because honeybees pollinate 1/3 of the foods we eat.
Over a hundred different kinds of fruits,
nuts, and vegetables rely on bees
and other pollinators to make them grow.
Every year, millions of bees are loaded
onto semis and trucks around the country,
from the blueberry fields of Maine
to the almond groves of California
to pollinate an estimated $15 billion worth of crops.
Hey, they don't call it "busy as a bee" for nothing.
But, as bees travel around the country,
they often come into contact
with things that can make them sick,
things like viruses, pesticides and parasites,
like the varroa mite, a nasty bloodsucker
that can devastate bee colonies.
It's believed that these stressors,
and perhaps some others, combined, are the likely cause
behind Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD.
And as bee losses continued,
it looked like we'd be forced to see
what life would be like without them.
But while the government worked on a national strategy
for pollination, and the media was crying disaster,
beekeepers quietly found a way to address the problem.
Honeybees are essentially livestock animals,
but unlike cattle they can replenish their numbers
very quickly.
Compared to the two to four calves
a cow might have in their lifetime,
queen bees can lay 1,500 eggs in a single day.
And commercial queen breeders
can rear large numbers of bees quickly
to meet increased demand.
Rebuilding hives is nothing new for beekeepers.
Often, they'll split a hive into two
and buy a new queen bee for about $20.
The new hive can be ready to pollinate after a few weeks.
Beekeepers can also simply buy bees
to replenish their hives.
A package of 12,000 bees costs about $100.
Beekeepers can recoup these extra costs
from the pollination fees they charge farmers.
And it seems to be working.
Despite losses from CCD, beekeepers have grown
honeybee colonies to their highest number in 20 years.
So, while CCD continues to perplex scientists,
there doesn't seem to be any imminent danger
that the honeybees will go extinct.
The good new is reports of CCD
have been declining in recent years, and that's great,
because honeybees are vitally important
to the diversity of our food supply,
and that's something we should appreciate,
even when they're not in the headlines.
But it seems clear that all the media buzz
over Colony Collapse Disorder,
and the warnings of an imminent beepocalypse
and a world without bees turned out to be totally wrong.