What's Wrong With The Bees?

But the seasons don't wait for science. With losses mounting and contracts to fill, the Hackenbergs decided to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy new bees and rebuild the hives.

Hackenberg admits he thought about giving up. But asked why he didn't, he says, "Well, I got a lot of farmers out here who depend on me. "

Brian Campbell of Berwick, Pa., is one of those farmers. He grows pumpkins. Without bees, he tells Kroft, his business wouldn't be profitable.

Campbell figures he needs 30 bee visits per flower to pollinate 300 acres of pumpkins, all headed to Wal-Mart for the Halloween trade. "If it's not pollinated, this is gonna dry up and fall off," he explains.

And with bees in short supply, Campbell was more than willing to pay Hackenberg $27,000 to rent 12 million of them for six weeks, double the usual price. "We need those bees. They've got to come up with a conclusion here," Campbell says.

Congress is expected to fund additional bee research with the new farm bill, but hardly anyone is talking about helping the beekeepers, who David Hackenberg calls the "ugly stepchildren" of agriculture. He told 60 Minutes the cold weather this fall and winter will pose a crucial test for him -- and for his bees.

What will happen if there is another die-off?

"I'm probably out of business," Hackenberg predicts.

Asked what he would do, Hackenberg says, "I don't know. This is all I've done [in] my life."

"If there's another big die-off of bees, some beekeepers, maybe many beekeepers are going to go out of business," Professor Spivak predicts.

What would that do to fruits and veggies at your local supermarket?

Says Spivak, "We won't have the quality fruits. We may not have the quantity of fruits and vegetables. And this could mean higher prices at the grocery store. And it'll hit the public directly."

"Just yesterday, you know, the farm manager of one of the largest blueberry companies in the United States called me to see, 'How are you doing? How are the bees doing?' You know, they're concerned, because they need these bees next year. I mean, we got through this year, but what's gonna happen next year?" Hackenberg wonders.

"And you don't know?" Kroft asks.

"That's right, we don't know," Hackenberg says. "Nobody knows."

---

That was six months ago. So far this year, the news is not good. When 60 Minutes caught up with David Hackenberg this week in California, he told us more than half of his bees had once again disappeared.

Produced By Andy Court and Keith Sharman

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[baldwell]

Pesticides a factor? Probably. The aerosol spraying of the skies by silent planes for the last ten years a factor? Probably. Genetically modified plants courtesy of Monsanto and others, which have already proven to kill the Monarch butterfly a factor? Probably. Bee colony collapse as serious a problem as Einstein claimed when he said mankind wouldn''t survive without the honeybee pollination? Quite possibly. The chances that *** Cheney may survive with his plastic heart in an underground bunker when grocery shelves look like they did in Russia in the 1950''s? Probable. The greedy and foolish shall inherit the hellish mess they''ve left of the earth after they''ve taken their spoils. God help the nasty sonsabitches. The rest of us will be gratefully, peacefully, resting. Selah.

[bamagirl2008]

I don''t know what is happening to the bees but I wish someone could explain the following to me: About 3 years ago, I noticed a large number of bees buzzing around my front porch. It was probably early summer in Bama so not that unusual to see a bee or two. But I had never had a problem before. I shoo-ed those bees away but within a week or so, I had thousands of bees hanging in large clumps off of the eaves of the roof, off of ceiling and off the edges of my front porch! It appeared they were nesting inside a tall hollow column. Hated to kill them all, but they were blocking the front door. I called 4 or 5 exterminators before finding one willing to tackle that task - and it was hysterical. The exterminator got in his truck with a window cracked and his nozzle of "bug spray" poking through the window. (He wasn''t about to stand outside in the open and spray all those bees.) He then tried to drive around and around my parking pad spraying from different angles to reach them all. They dropped dead in mounds and, after a while, I went outside and swept them up. It was all very "Amityville Horror" - remember all the flies against the windows? That''s how I felt looking through my leaded glass door watching the bees take over my porch. Since that time, I''ve never had a problem with bees. Anyone have any thoughts on what prompted the bees to take over my front porch?

[ggray12-2009]

I have heard that the issue of CCD is non existent on ORGANIC farms. Perhaps 60 Minutes could pursue this. This finding would support the pesticide theory.

[alexandergp]

Maybe the bees are smarter than we are. Perhaps they are tired of being hauled across country and when dropped off they find a better haven nearby. Amazing there is a shortage but the beekeeper could go and purchase other ones. Perhaps children are hiding them so that they won''t pollinate veggies and kids won''t hear, "eat your vegetables." Maybe it is just another "let''s scare the *** out of everyone story."

[rf35]

" What is needed is for people to stop education and get back to what God created us for..."

Singinrick, did you change your name to KellyAFische? No, guess not, I can tell by the tone.
This post must be a sarcastic joke. Nobody could actually be this stupid.

[dongbeating]

Bees didn''t start dying until we started spraying for the gypsy moths. I think the goverment knows all about this. They only spray late at night.

[cwilley5]

if the bees are leaving their honey behind and the bees from other colonies do not take the honey left behind, what is wrong with the honey? should humans be consuming honey, should we be concerned about the health issues of eating raw honey? i consume alot of raw unpasteurized honey because it''s my understanding that it is beneficial to my health. orange blossom and tupelei honey are popular here in florida, so what''s the risk?

[crazybob9]

This is the second story in as many weeks involving Bayer. Remember that this same company performed ''medical'' experimentation on Jews during Germany''s Nazi era. I think the same horrible moral ethic is at work in today''s Bayer, and in many other multinational corporations.

[kofiananimus]

Posted by koko98: "There is nothing wrong with the bees. I was out in my yard last weekend and the plants were literally crawling with bees."
------------------------------------------------------
Was this posted by Bill O''Reilly??? Sounds like something he''d say... "Clearly New Jersey has a larger population than California, ''cause when I walk outside in Newark, NJ I see thousands of people, and when I walk outside in Eureka, CA I hardly see anyone"

[liebestode]

As I have written last year in the San Francisco Chronicle, March 10 and November 10, 2007, there is ample evidence to give genetically modified crops a closer look as one of the causes of CCD. My own research has shown that non-farmland bees thrive and produce more honey than their farmland peers. The honeybee issue obscures the more serious observation that ALL insect species are being affected. John McDonald