USDA To Collect More Data On Bees

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service plans to collect more data to get a better handle on the number of honeybee colonies that are lost each year. Multiple factors—including pesticides, lack of habitat, and mites—have been implicated in recent reports of honeybee losses, but it is unclear which factors are the biggest culprits and how many bees have been lost. New surveys would target beekeepers with fewer than five colonies. USDA hopes to obtain information about movement of colonies between states, colony losses, and stressors such as pests or parasites. In a separate move, USDA announced that it would provide $4 million to farmers and ranchers to implement conservation practices, such as planting cover crops, that will provide food for honeybees.