Seven weeks ago we did a reasonably comprehensive post on the mysterious bee die-offs afflicting beekeepers in the U.S. and many other countries around the globe. In that post I tried to express the concept that the so-called 'colony collapse disorder' was a final worker's strike from a creature that's been doing hard labour under our modern production systems for too long. While many (scientists and lay-people alike) have been looking for the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, the article tries to focus on, and implicate, the load that was there in the first place.

Judging by the wealth of comments (111 to date), contributions and insights from beekeepers and other interested persons, many seem to agree with this philosophy.

Since publishing that article, we learnt (without surprise) that organic beekeepers didn't seem to be suffering the problems of their industrial counterparts.

And, today, hot off the press at the San Francisco Chronicle, is a news report that further confirms our conclusions.

A team of entomologists and other scientists studying the alarming die-off of honeybees across the country is expected to report that there are multiple causes of the deaths, called colony collapse disorder. The finding compounds a crisis for growers of crops dependent on pollination, a Central Valley congressman said Thursday.

... The team of scientists now completing the report and recommendations for the USDA's Agriculture Research Service is expected to conclude that there are many potential causes of colony collapse, including parasites, mites and diseases; known or unknown pathogens; poor nutrition and stress; lack of genetic diversity; and a combination of several factors.

If there is not a common thread, such as a pathogen seen in many of the affected colonies, Professor Eric Mussen of UC Davis said he is convinced that a nutritional deficit helps explain how the honeybees were weakened by the smorgasbord of potential causes of death. That is because dry conditions, certainly in California, did not produce flowers in which bees find their required mix of pollens, he said.

"I am pretty concerned about it this year because, at Davis, in January we only had 0.17 of an inch of rain and we should have had 4 inches. The early mustard -- we never got it,'' Mussen said.

"In many situations the bees were weakened by not being able to get a nice mix of nutrients that they needed from the pollens, and I think that weakened them,'' he said. "Under those circumstances you can take all the other (causes), and there are plenty of them, and combine them together and down go the bees.'' - San Francisco Chronicle

We have grown so accustomed to fixes-in-a-bottle. If we have a headache, rather than drink more water, open the window to inhale fresh air, and monitor our diet and exercise regime - we pop a pill. A visit to the doctor no longer involves questioning our lifestyle habits, but just a precautionary check on potential allergies for one proposed medication or another. This is the same mindset we're dealing with in the industrial agriculture sector. Rather than examine root causes, we try to defeat the symptoms. But, there is no quick fix - no industrial, chemical, or genetically modified patch - to this problem. The only real 'cure' is prevention.

In a less industry-controlled world one could hope such experiences as these would lead to a resurgence of healthy agricultural systems - reducing/removing chemical inputs, and increasing the oh-so-stabilising bio-diversity we're so desperately short of. I fear, however, we'll end up offering our little black and yellow-jacketed workers just enough of a pay-rise to get them back to work, but no more.