![](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/hemp-bee-bar-graph.jpg\")
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A funny thing happened in November 2006.<\/p>\n
David Hackenberg, a Pennsylvania beekeeper tending to his hives in Florida, went on a routine check. What he found was startling: After opening up his hives, he discovered that there were very few honeybees present, which was an abnormality. He checked around the hives, but couldn\u2019t find any perished bees \u2014 another abnormality.<\/p>\n
Hackenberg\u2019s discovery alerted beekeepers in the United States of a serious \u2014 and potentially catastrophic \u2014 problem that was later named colony collapse disorder (CCD). But the phenomenon wasn\u2019t entirely new. It had happened sporadically throughout history, though in Europe in the mid-1990s it had started to occur with startling frequency.<\/p>\n
But somehow, news of what was happening in Europe had been largely ignored, until U.S. beekeepers like Hackenberg reported their colonies were collapsing too. Once the problem was on U.S. soil, it was finally considered\u00a0a problem<\/em>. Print and television media quickly picked up the story. Alarm bells rang.<\/p>\n The American public soon found out that honeybees, apart from simply creating something delicious, are important. As in our entire food production system is dependent on them important. The\u00a0American Beekeeping Federation estimates<\/a>\u00a0that honeybees contribute $20 billion to the value of U.S. agriculture annually through increased yields and superior-quality harvests. And if they did in fact disappear, we\u2019d be, well, up a certain creek without a paddle.<\/p>\n So, a decade later, everything\u2019s okay, right?<\/p>\n Well, the rapid decline of the honeybee has forced us to pay attention. Researchers and beekeepers are searching for solutions \u2014 sometimes finding answers, sometimes more questions.<\/p>\n What they\u2019ve found paints a complicated picture of what\u2019s affecting honeybees. The fate of the honeybee may be tied to the way in which we\u2019ve altered our environment to suit the needs of a ballooning human population, as well as diseases and pests that can more effectively target honeybees already suffering from poor health related to habitat loss.<\/p>\n But with knowledge comes the power to act. By reengineering our current environment into one that is healthier for pollinators, we can change the honeybee narrative. Some feel hemp offers an opportunity to help provide a solution. But in order to seize that opportunity, we need to think about how and what types of hemp we are growing as the money pours into our\u00a0post-Farm Bill world<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the immediate aftermath of the CCD crisis, theories abounded as to what the cause was. Some were the usual ideas put forth in times of uncertainty: a government experiment gone wrong, Russian sabotage, aliens, the rapture.<\/p>\n But the most ardently discussed (and much more plausible) cause for the phenomenon revolved around a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids. Initially, the amount of evidence supporting their role in CCD was strong enough that several European governments\u00a0banned specific neonicotinoids<\/a>\u00a0thought to be causing CCD.<\/p>\n While individual states have restricted the use of neonicotinoids, on a federal level the U.S. has failed to act in any meaningful way.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople always ask me, \u2018What\u2019s killing the bees?\u2019 I say, \u2018It\u2019s not one thing, it\u2019s everything.\u2019\u201d \u2014 Nick French<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n For much of the public, the story of the honeybee ends there: Honeybees are threatened and pesticides are the culprit. In a way, neonicotinoids being the sole culprit would have been a best-case scenario. Eventually, under pressure from an array of lobbying groups and the public at large, we likely could have convinced our representatives to vote against the corporate interests that fund their campaigns.<\/p>\n But as we\u2019ve continued to study CCD, a more complex picture \u2014 one that tells the all-too-familiar story of unintended consequences of human-caused ecosystem alteration \u2014 has appeared. Yes, neonicotinoids are bad for honeybees. But figuring out what\u2019s causing the plight of the honeybee is, unfortunately, more complicated than simply banning certain pesticides.<\/p>\n \u201cI always talk about bees, birds, bats, and butterflies, because that\u2019s what we\u2019re witnessing, the sixth great extinction right now,\u201d says Nick French, owner of\u00a0Colorado Hemp Honey<\/a>. French sells CBD-infused hemp honey and manages about 150 colonies of honeybees on his farm in Douglas County, Colorado.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are lots of other species that are dying, but the ones you hear about are the bees,\u201d French continues. \u201cThese [different species], they\u2019re all dying off at alarming rates. And it\u2019s a combination of things. People always ask me, \u2018What\u2019s killing the bees?\u2019 I say, \u2018It\u2019s not one thing, it\u2019s everything.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n French, like many etymologists studying honeybee and insect population declinations, believes that an intensive combination of human-caused environmental factors is eroding honeybee health in general, and thus their numbers.<\/p>\n Illustrating the issue, French says: \u201cImagine a six-legged table, where each one of those legs represents a factor affecting bees. One leg is a polluted city environment. Another one is a lack of forage and genetically modified crops. Another one is for mites. Another one might be other diseases that affect bees. Some people say migratory beekeeping is to blame. Well, that table cannot stand if you pull those legs out from under it. In other words, bees cannot evolve fast enough to overcome all these different changes that are happening in the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n Insects, in general, are disappearing at alarming rates, scientists say.<\/p>\n In\u00a0a study published in Science Direct\u00a0<\/em>in early 2019<\/a>, Francisco S\u00e1nchez-Bayo, an environmental scientist and ecologist at the University of Sydney, and Kris A.G. Wyckhuys, a Belgian bioscience engineer and insect ecologist, wrote about their recent compilation of 73 historical reports detailing insect populations from around the globe.<\/p>\n What they found was shocking. According to the study, over 40% of global insect populations are threatened with extinction over the next few decades. Two recent studies, in particular, have scientists concerned.<\/p>\n Citing a 2017 study, the authors write: \u201cA 27-year-long population monitoring study revealed a shocking 76% decline in flying insect biomass at several of Germany\u2019s protected areas.\u201d<\/p>\n And, summarizing a 2018 study, they state: \u201c[A] recent study in rainforests of Puerto Rico has reported biomass losses between 98% and 78% for ground-foraging and canopy-dwelling arthropods over a 36-year period, with respective annual losses between 2.7% and 2.2%.\u201d<\/p>\n Even if you\u2019re an entomophobe (someone who is scared of all those creepy crawlies), that\u2019s still bad news. Beyond pollination, insects are essential to a host of processes unique to each ecosystem that they thrive in. And many animals rely on insects as their primary or only food source. If we lose all of the insects, it will simply be one wave in a waterfall of disastrous consequences. <\/p>\n Honeybees, at least, have an advantage over most insects. Because they\u2019re so essential to our food systems, we breed and reproduce them to replenish their numbers when they\u2019re threatened. Prior to CCD, beekeepers reported losses of between 15% and 20% annually, per\u00a0USDA surveys<\/a>. Over the last decade, that number has roughly doubled. The falling honeybee numbers means that beekeepers are suffering a financial toll, which ripples into higher prices at the supermarket. While this population loss and price jump shouldn\u2019t be shrugged off, beekeepers have at least been able to keep us from a complete species collapse by reproducing honeybees.<\/p>\n So, if we can force honeybee populations to reproduce, why are their numbers still declining?<\/p>\n The issues facing honeybees are issues familiar to other insects, says Arathi Seshadri, a professor at Colorado State University who specializes in pollination and plant production.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing is that when we are trying to understand what is going on with honeybees, it actually opens up a broader question,\u201d she says. \u201cThe fact is, it\u2019s not just honey bees, it\u2019s actually all pollinators that are experiencing this, because the kinds of challenges that the bees are facing apply to not just this one genus, but across the board apply to a lot of beneficial insects and pollinators that are all dependent on the same kinds of things.\u201d<\/p>\n In particular, Seshadri says pollinators are suffering from a lack of habitat, and subsequently, access to food.<\/p>\n \u201cWildflowers and other plants are not present anymore, either because we have eliminated them by using herbicides and chemicals, or these areas have become developed into newer agricultural areas, or they have become urbanized areas just because the human population is growing,\u201d she says. \u201cWe are just extensively destroying the natural habitat to meet human needs.\u201d<\/p>\n That synopsis aligns with what S\u00e1nchez-Bayo and Wyckhuys found. They describe the issues driving insect decline, appearing in order of what they deem importance, as habitat loss as wild areas turn into agricultural and urban land, pollution mostly from synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, diseases, and climate change.<\/p>\n But when it comes to honeybees, both Seshadri and French offer up plenty of hope as a side to go along with the heaps of sobering reality.<\/p>\n Seshadri says that everything from large-scale farming operations diversifying their crops and restoring wildflowers for pollinators to your choices in your backyard can help move the needle in the right way.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are becoming aware and there are several different kinds of efforts to improve pollinator habitat,\u201d says Seshadri. \u201cOne of the things that we are trying to get across is that people usually end up blaming the chemicals. And it\u2019s not always the chemicals that are to blame.\u201d<\/p>\n She says that by planting native species in your yard, you can both provide food for pollinators and lessen your usage of water, because native plants are adapted to the environment.<\/p>\n Speaking about the prevalence of that idyllic, weed-free Kentucky Bluegrass, Seshadri says homeowners should challenge themselves never to use chemicals in their own backyards. \u201cIf you\u2019re in urban areas, in your backyard, do we need chemicals at all?\u201d she asks.<\/p>\n French for his part, says that he\u2019s seen a huge increase in interest for the honeybee in his time as a beekeeper.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is that more people are getting interested in hobby beekeeping,\u201d he says. He said that 10 years ago, when he attended Colorado state beekeeping meetings, he was \u201cthe youngest guy in the room\u201d and the only one under 40. Now, he says younger people are getting interested in the practice.<\/p>\n But beekeepers are still experiencing high annual losses. French says this is due in large part to the\u00a0Varroa destructor\u00a0<\/em>mite, which \u2014 besides having a name like a comic book villain \u2014 is one of the honeybees\u2019 greatest foes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is by far the biggest threat to honeybees [\u2026] even more than the pesticides,\u201d he says, echoing Seshadri\u2019s claim that pesticides are more of the go-to scapegoat than the primary bee-killing agent.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen commercial beekeepers take their bees to farms, remember, those farmers want those bees there,\u201d French says. \u201cThey\u2019re paying for them. So spraying things to kill them, sure, unintentionally that does happen. But they\u2019re paying for bees to come there. They want the increase production.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, if farmers\u2019 crops rely on pollination to increase profits and production, and they\u2019re paying beekeepers for their services, it\u2019s in the farmers\u2019 interest to avoid spraying chemicals that could harm honeybees.<\/p>\n The rise in hobby beekeepers, at least on a theoretical level, is a good thing for the honeybee. But because the mite can easily spread from colony to colony, and beekeepers new to the space might not have the same level of knowledge or time to effectively manage their hives, French worries that an influx of hobbyists may actually increase the\u00a0Varroa destructor<\/em>\u00a0problem.<\/p>\n French describes his treatment plan to halt the mite\u2019s spread as follows: \u201cWhen I treat my bees, I have some other friends that keep bees in the area. And I always tell them when I\u2019m going to treat and we try and coordinate training. So, we kind of hit the whole area at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n French has been using some of his hives to study the interaction between honeybees and hemp. And he\u2019s not alone. Seshadri and one of her students, Colton O\u2019Brien, have also been researching hemp and bees to try and set out a plan for responsible pest management in the future. For both parties, the results are promising, although with some substantial caveats.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a promise that is repeated often throughout our emergent industry: There\u2019s a hope that hemp can help.<\/p>\n In June of 2015, French set out to test how honeybees and hemp would interact. His hypothesis was that encouraging bees to pollinate a field would encourage seed production for hemp plants.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen people told me that there was a seed shortage and hemp seed was selling for $10,000 a pound or $10 a seed, I was like, this is easy. This is what beekeepers do. We take our bees, we increase productions, and get output on crops,\u201d he explains. \u201cIf I could help increase the seed production by one pound on the field, it definitely over pays for my services.\u201d<\/p>\n French placed 12 hives on 70 acres of hemp being grown for fiber and monitored and reported his results throughout the summer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bees love the pollen. They go crazy for it. But cannabis and hemp are naturally nectar-poor, meaning the plant does not produce a lot of nectar for bees,\u201d he says. Bees require nectar to make honey for food, so as a result of the low nectar amounts in the cannabis, French says the bees \u201cpretty much starved to death\u201d by the end of summer. \u201cThey couldn\u2019t produce enough honey to sustain themselves,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n For plants that are wind pollinators, such as wheat, rice, and dandelions, this is normal. For commercial beekeepers that ship the hives around the country for pollination services, it simply means supplementing the bees with food \u2014 a practice widely used, but which some blame for poor honeybee health.<\/p>\n In other words, honeybees can help hemp farmers increase production, but the bees can\u2019t live solely on hemp.<\/p>\n However, hemp can play a role in helping pollinators, says Seshadri. Her student O\u2019Brien was working in the field, she says, when he noticed an abundance of wild bees and honeybees on flowering hemp plants. His curiosity piqued, he spoke with Seshadri and they decided to set up a study for the following summer to investigate the relationship between bees and hemp.<\/p>\n Their results yielded evidence of a wide variety of pollinators interacting with the hemp, something encouraging despite the lack of nectar produced.<\/p>\n \u201cMale hemp comes to flower around August or September, which is really a crucial time for a lot of pollinators, because they\u2019re kind of heading towards the end of the season,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n Despite not getting nectar from hemp plants, bees do harvest pollen, which is protein-rich and essential for larva development. During the late summer months in Colorado, very few plants or crops that provide nutrition are in their flowering stage.<\/p>\n \u201cSo that\u2019s what makes hemp really stand out. In Colorado, it fits into the whole agriculture system by providing pollen at that crucial time in the season,\u201d says Seshadri.<\/p>\n For Seshadri, the timeliness of hemp\u2019s flowering stage, combined with the potential of a new crop that we can study before developing pest management strategies, makes the hemp-honeybee relationship an exciting one.<\/p>\n The distinction is, however, that the hemp can\u2019t be feminized in order to provide pollen for the bees. With the unprecedented amount of money flowing into the CBD space post-legalization, it\u2019s a fair bet we\u2019ll see a massive increase in the acreage of hemp planted for CBD this year, which involves female hemp plants producing high-CBD flower instead of male hemp plants releasing pollen.<\/p>\n And therein lies the rub. While hemp and honeybees appear to offer each other something that can be mutually beneficial, if new investment money turns hemp into simply another monoculture crop that isn\u2019t releasing pollen, hemp could be part of the problem for honeybees, not a part of the solution.<\/p>\n When it comes to recognizing and acting on the myriad problems that affect pollinators, the needle is trending in the right way, says Seshadri. But that doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re in the clear.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want anybody to sit back and relax and say, \u2018OK, we did our job.\u2019 I don\u2019t want to scare people and say bees are disappearing, but I don\u2019t want to say that everything is okay, just move on,\u201d she says. \u201cI want people to realize that every action we take has a consequence.\u201d<\/p>\n So while there\u2019s hope that hemp can help mitigate some of the issues influencing the honeybee crisis, the plant\u2019s role will be largely a supporting one. Just as a multitude of problems are affecting the bees, like so many legs of a table, a multitude of solutions are needed to save them.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, do you think hemp can help honeybees?<\/p>\n This article was originally published in the print edition of Hemp magazine<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Not Quite So Sweet: Hemp & the Honeybee<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A funny thing happened in November 2006. David Hackenberg, a Pennsylvania beekeeper tending to his hives in Florida, went on a routine check. What he found was startling: After opening up his hives, he discovered that there were very few honeybees present, which was an abnormality. He checked around theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":406,"featured_media":42467,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,296,536],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42466"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/406"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42468,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42466\/revisions\/42468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Identifying the Culprit<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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![\"hemp](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/hemp-bee-bar-graph.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nIt\u2019s Not Just Bees That Are in Trouble<\/strong><\/h4>\n
What Can Exist Without Habitat or Food?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/hemp-by-the-numbers.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nAn All-Natural Adversary<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"hemp](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/hemp-bee-illustration-791x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nHemp & Honeybees<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Not Quite So Sweet: Hemp & the Honeybee<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"