What Is The True Reality Facing Bees?
Are neonicotinoids a genuine problem impacting honeybees? What is the true reality facing all pollinators? In this week’s segment of The Neonicotinoid View, former USDA scientist, Dr. Jonathan Lundgren, founder of Blue Dasher Farm, talks to host June Stoyer and Colorado beekeeper, Tom Theobald about what the reality is for honeybees regarding the impact of neonicotinoids. To listen to the interview, press the play button on the video below:
Interview Highlights
Division Through Deception
TT: Dr Lundgren, we have somewhat of a division in the beekeeping community in that we have a faction of the beekeepers who believe that it’s “Varroa, Varroa, Varroa”…and that attitude is encouraged by the chemical industry.
JL: Yeah, I think you’re absolutely right, Tom. I tried to bring that up in Galveston, too. I may have ired some of the audience but I think it needed to be said. They needed to hear this. When farmers are addicted to chemicals, who wins in that scenario? It isn’t the farmers, right? The addict is not the winner in an addiction scenario. It’s the people who are selling them the drugs. That’s definitely the case within our food production system as well.
Who is it that is winning in this situation? You can bet that they’re trying to convince the beekeepers that Varroa are killing their bees. It’s not to say that the Varroa are not a problem but I think the Varroa is a problem because of the other stressors and neonicotinoids are one of them.
TT: I think the neonicotinoids and other pesticides potentiate the mites. At least, that has been my experience. With regards to the farmers, this isn’t agronomy, it is marketing. It’s not the farmers who are benefiting from this.
JL: No, it’s not. They are starting to realize that, too. The farmers don’t want to be dumping this stuff out there. I truly believe that they understand at least at that level but they feel trapped. We’re trying to provide them another solution.
In A Trump Administration, What About The Future Of Food?
JS: Dr. Lundgren, in regards to the new administration, I know no body has any answers but
if there are any folks from the new administration listening to this program, what advice do you have to offer them?
JL: I think we need to incentivise innovation within our food production system. That’s going to solve so many of these planetary scale problems that we are facing right now. By innovation, I am not talking about developing a new jug that we can dump into our food. It requires that we understand the ecological basis for how systems work and remove hurdles for the farmers who are doing things right. That’s going to really help with the bee problem too!
About “The Neonicotinoid View”
“The Neonicotinoid View”, which is produced by The Organic View Radio Show is unique, weekly program that explores the impact of neonicotinoids on the environment. Tune in each week as hosts June Stoyer and Colorado beekeeper, Tom Theobald explore the latest research on systemic pesticides and news from the beekeeping community.
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