What's Wrong With The Bees?

Steve Kroft Reports On The Mysterious Disappearance Of Bees

(CBS)  This segment was originally broadcast on Oct. 28, 2007. It was updated on Feb. 21, 2008.

If you want to grow fruits, vegetables or nuts in the United States on a commercial basis you have to have soil, sun, seeds, water, and honeybees -- millions and millions of honeybees brought in from all over the country to pollinate the crops. As correspondent Steve Kroft explains, honeybees are the unsung heroes of the food chain, crucial to the production of one third of the foods we eat. So when billions of bees began to mysteriously disappear last year, there was plenty of concern and no shortage of theories, blaming everything from cell phones to divine rapture. None of the usual explanations seemed to fit. Some of the nation's top scientists are trying to understand this phenomenon, but no one is more immersed in the mystery than the man who is widely credited with discovering it.

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Lewisburg, Pa., has a population of 6,000 people and 88 million bees -- enough to sting every resident of New York, California, and Texas combined. The bees belong to David Hackenberg and his family, who have been keeping them for almost half a century.

"It's the most unique thing in nature there is. I mean you stick your head inside that beehive, and it's, you know, it's something about bees that just makes the rest of the world just seem to go away," Hackenberg says.

Hackenberg says he gets along with his bees "fine."

The bees make plenty of honey, but most of the money comes from loading 2,200 hives onto flatbed trucks and renting them to farmers all over the country. On the day we followed them, their services were desperately needed in Maine, where mile upon mile of wild blueberries were in bloom just waiting to be pollinated.

Thirty years ago, a good-sized blueberry farm was 500 acres; today, a large commercial operation can run to 10,000 acres and there are simply not enough honeybees in Maine to do the work. On average, Hackenberg and his bees log 60,000 miles a year on the road, wintering in Florida to work citrus and cantaloupe, then heading back north in the Spring for apples and cherries, maybe even to California for the almond crop. He's just a small part of an industry that pollinates 90 different crops worth an estimated $15 billion. And most people don't even know it exists.

"What happens when you pull into a gas station with a big flatbed of bees?" Kroft asks. "Are people nervous? People get scared?"

"Oh yeah, I mean, you get all of them things. I mean, you know, 'There's bees in that truck!' Most of the people in this country have no idea what it takes to put the food on their table," Hackenberg explains.

Hackenberg thinks bees are underappreciated. "Sometimes I think beekeepers are underappreciated," he adds, laughing.

The hours are long and the work strenuous. After a ten-hour drive to Maine, Hackenberg and his crew still had to unload the hives and position them in the fields. Even when he grabbed a few hours sleep in the cab of his truck, he wasn’t alone: most people would have trouble getting to sleep with a couple of dozen bees buzzing around, but Hackenberg never worries about getting stung.

"That's just part of the business, you know. It's like stopping for traffic lights in New York," he says.

He estimates he has been stung "thousands and thousands" of times. "I've had days where I might have had a hundred, 120 bee stings in one day," he tells Kroft.

Hackenberg says the body builds up immunity to the stings, while the uninitiated might end up in the hospital.

[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."
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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

[kellyafische]

Education is responsible for genetic modification, engineering, chemical planting and ultimately death of whole species. At one time all chemicals were considered harmless until years later proved deadly. What is needed is for people to stop education and get back to what God created us for...(Genisis chapter 1 Holy Bible) make the earth a beautiful paradise. He created everything and afterward declared it good. Do you think imperfect humans can make better what God has already done? Just get back to the waterfall and move the rocks around, make more benches, plant more fruit trees! It is that simple, wonderful, beautiful and joy filled! Then all the bees and animals will be healthy and happy too!

[ivandrago]

Q: What does "partial" ban mean???

A: Used only on crops that would not attract bees, and don''t need to be pollinated by bees?

[shogl]

Hmmmm... If that beekeeper thinks it''s smart to stick his head in a hive full of bees, he might want to tackle that compulsion first and only THEN work on increasing his honey business.

[excoachken]

The only Bees who have "something wrong" with them are the S.O.B.s in the Bush Administration!

[pbdobb]

Evidence may point to genetically modified crops. Many of these are engineered with a death gene to prevent the seeds from being able to reproduce (to protect intellectual property). This may have an effect on pollen (bees use this as a protien source, and in the production of royal jelly). Without royal jelly no queens can be produced. A hive without a queen, or that has no reproduction will die.

[rebmalovell]

My question is if another country has already banned use of this pesticide why in the world are we using it here. If its not good for them why would it be good for us.

[kellyafische]

Whenever a family in Wisconsin has kids getting stung by bees, I ask them where their trash can is. They usually point to a black garbage bag of recycle aluminum pop cans as general area where the kids are getting stung. Also, when you walk out of the door of the college, the bees are hanging around. Why? They are sucking the pop out of the cans. Old cans. Cans with molded pop in them. THAT SHOULD BE A RESEARCH TIP.

[rf35]

I''ve never been big on organic foods, but here''s an idea. The beekeepers only allow organic farmers to hire their bees. If the bees remain healthy, then you know it''s something chemical causing the problem.

Rick, maybe God can just make us some more bees. Why don''t you ask next time you visit him?

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature...It is the opium of the people."

[godseyesore-2009]

pollengirl1 is promoting "controlled pollination". China already uses large numbers of people to do some of that on specialized fruits. That may ultimately be what he HAVE to do, but hopefully not. I personally want to spend my time on things other than pollinating plants.

[godseyesore-2009]

singinrick asked, Does Darwin offer death, or life?

Astounding that I have to actually spell things out, but answer is NEITHER. Darwin is simply stating the way nature works, period. Your value judgements show how ignorant you are of the world in which you exist. So, tell us all again, just what is your planet of origin?