It appears that almonds were not the culprit. One colony was harmed by mites. This has been a growing problem reported all over the US. However, he had many other hives that died off not due to mites. It seems the prime suspect is the insecticide sprayed on the trees. I would not place my bees in orchards that was dousing the trees with pesticides. Let that orchard operator keep his own bees.

That sounds/reads horrific to me. My grandfather was a bee keeper. His bees were shipped out every year... and their honey was really delicious. I had no idea back then, how it all works... and am now so proud of grandpa how he shuttled the bees.

Moni

I'm a highly lactose-intolerant vegetarian, who happens to love dairy and dairy-like products. It's a challenge....

I used soy milk for years, until all the hoopla about links to breast cancer. So I switched to almond. I guess now I'm just SOL (ha), because I don't really like any of the other substitutes.

How could the orchard owners not think the pesticides they use would have an effect on the bees?? That's nuts to think about.

A bit of an over-reaction, don't you think? Bee-keepers face a trade-off of risking disease exposure or limiting their own income. Why make a choice they themselves don't make? If you don't eat the food their bees contribute to, they'll have less business and that will cause a different bee problem.

I too try to avoid "factory produced" food - eggs, chicken, pork, farmed fish, etc. and try to find smaller producers with healthier practices. Doing so costs more, sometimes much more. Do all of you with sincere concern about bees consistently do the same? I'm going to guess many answers will be No. Sometimes you can make better choices, sometimes you can't.

No, I don't think.

I was a hobbyist beekeeper for 10 years. You'd be surprised at the types of chemicals that beekeepers use in their hives. I recently heard an NPR radio segment that reported on some research suggesting chemicals used by beekeepers to control Varroa mites might itself be contributing to bee mortality.

The beekeeper featured in this article "spends at least $50,000 a year on mite treatments" and "fattening bees on (high fructose) corn syrup or on simulated pollen substances called “pollen patties”. None of these are practices of the organic beekeeper.

Commercial beekeepers from as far away as Mississippi ship their bees to California for the Almond pollination season and then north for other crops before returning home. This places a great deal of stress on the hives as well.

I understand that people can easily have a sincere emotional response to situations like this. But as jrb points out, the article itself contains info describing the beekeeper's use of "chemical treatments" on the bees for mites.

These folks depend on the bees for their income and livelihood. I'll go back to suggesting that bystanders shouldn't get teary and offer a sigh before understanding and accepting the choices and practices beekeepers follow for what they believe to be in the best interests of themselves and their bees. It's a shame that coming to California risks stress and mite infestations. Those who want to put the safety and well being of their bees foremost can go elsewhere.

There is a big difference between chemicals used to control the mites - which kill the mites, not the bees - and the pervasive widespread use of pesticides, many of them unnecessary, on the crops the bees are intended to pollinate.

There are a lot of factors involved in the decline of bee populations and the use of pesticides weighs in very heavily. As they are absolutely essential to much crop production, it would behoove farmers and orchardists that rely on them to ease back as much as they can on pesticides. If the do not recognize this need, becoming more pressing ever year, it is not inconceivable to arrive at a point in time when those pollinator-requiring crops will not be available at all.