We Speak For The Bees! Vermont Hives Up To Address Global Honeybee Crisis

On Vermont’s Route 7 running north to south, travelers pass farm fields of alfalfa, cows, a single camel (true!), and thousands of bees. Vermont is one many states in the U.S. that maintains an active local network of beekeeping enthusiasts and indigenous bees. In order to remain optimistic about the future of our bees, Vermonters have been working hard to increase awareness and sales in the honeybee business. As a small production agricultural state here in the 21^st century, Vermont is working hard to maintain strong community engagement in and support for sustainable organic apiculture to promote a “grow local/consume local” mission and do our part to stave off global honeybee decline. “Honey bees are one of the world’s most remarkable and vital super organisms,” explains Champlain College biologist Kristin Wolf, who founded the college’s apiary in Burlington a few summers ago. “We are doing our part to protect, nurture and expand the honey bee population here in the Green Mountains.”

Since the 1980s, Vermont has lost more than 100,000 acres of hay fields that used to be covered with pollinator-friendly plants like clover and alfalfa. Many large-scale agricultural practices have changed so that hay is cut before bloom, making it more nutritious for cows and of more benefit for farmers, but bad for the native bees. The decrease in small production hay fields is not the only change that is affecting bees. Mites, viruses, bacteria, and pesticide use have also contributed to the pollinator’s decline. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has caused about a third of bees to die across the United States since 2006. (Greenwood, 2014) Not only does the collapse of colonies affect apicultures nation-wide, but it also affects large agriculture corporations’ ability to produce fruits and crops seasonally. Polls collected from the National Honey Bee survey describe the average colony loss in the southern versus northern half the nation. The southern half has lost 37% of bee colonies in 2015, and the northern half has lost up to 48% of colonies. In looking at honey production by region affiliated with colony loss, most every region (according to surveys from the Bee Informed Partnership) lost a bigger percentage of bees when the region was producing the lowest (or no) honey during that particular season. This suggests that the more involved maintenance and attention to healthy landscapes apiaries hold, the better health the bees are in, and the less susceptible the hives will be to colony collapse disorder. (Winter Loss Results, 2015)

Organizations around Vermont work to promote sustainable farming and land ownership to help protect the health of honeybees and the pollination services we then receive. “Between 60 to 80 percent of wild plants in our state are dependent on animals, mostly bees, for the ‘ecosystem service’ of pollination. Whole communities of flowering trees, shrubs, and herbs benefit from their activities—including blueberries, blackberries, and apples” (Pollinators in Peril, VT Agency of Natural Resources). Whitney Blodgett, owner of Sentinel Pine Orchards in Shoreham, Vermont, and Jane Sorensen, a former landscape architect who teaches a UVM course on pollinators and is the co-owner of the VLT-conserved River Berry Farm in Fairfax, are quoted in an article written by Karen Johnston from the Vermont Land Trust on protecting wild pollinators through sustainable farming practices and land management. They’ve both commented that they have managed lands with an ‘eye toward stewardship,’ and in understanding the honeybee problem, sustainable management that then includes protection for honeybee and other native pollinators’ habitats. Protection for pollinator habitats means protection for the health of honeybees and other pollinators, and good health for honeybees and pollinators means good health for hungry locals. (Johnston, 2016) In her moving and insightful TED Talk, Marla Spivak summarizes “Everyone benefits from planting wildflowers” (Spivak, 2013).

There are many bee-affiliated markets in Vermont. Green Mountain Bee farm sells queens bees and honey, as does Northwood’s Apiaries and Heavenly Honey Apiary, who also both sell pollination services and honey extraction services. Vermont Beekeepers.org sells Vermont-reared queens, and Champlain Valley Apiaries sells honey, honey products, bee venom, and equipment. In Vermont, honey and honey products are considered one of the state’s many local crafted goods, selling $1.5 million worth of bee related goods annually. In the last decade, commercial beekeepers have responded to the national bee decline by changing their organization’s practices. Charles Mraz, owner and operator of Champlain Valley Apiaries, now supplements honey sales with bee venom sales and honey packaging. Honey production used to account for 50% of revenue, but now it is a third of Vermont’s revenue. (Greenwood, 2014)

Steve Parise, owner and operator of Northwood Apiaries and retired state apiary inspector, has commented on Vermont bucking the national trend towards decreasing hive health. “Efforts to address the crisis are varied. Nationally, the USDA just announced plans to fund bee forage improvement in the Midwest. In Vermont, beekeeping by small, hobby [farms] is surging, with more than 2,000 beekeepers at 2,500 different locations managing more than 11,000 hives. Beekeeping has grown steadily over the last decade, notes Stephen Parise, Agriculture Production Specialist at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. This growth bucks a fifty-year national trend toward fewer managed hives. Vermont beekeepers are moving fast to meet pollination demand, while also making the state New England’s leading honey producer.” (Johnston, 2016) In another related interview, Parise continued to address Vermont’s efforts to conserve hive health. He commented that more and more Vermonters were taking up bee keeping and hive registrations were increasing, as were workshops and mentoring programs around the state. Bill Mares, another beekeeper in Vermont, also commented on the new enthusiasm for bees. “‘Maybe more people are interested in having gardens,” he said. “And I think there’s a general consensus that people need to do something to help pollinators. Whatever the reasons are, we’re pleased. It might be dumb luck — or it might have something to do with the intensely local nature of Vermont’s apiaries. (Baird, 2010)

Ironically, perhaps, the transportation of honeybees nationally has increased exponentially. Thousands of hives are packed on a truck to be shipped miles away to pollinate a large monoculture that becomes a ‘food desert’ for the bees just months later. Once the monoculture has been pollinated and there are no flowers left, the honeybees are shipped to a new location across the country. (Spivak, 2013) The transportation of honeybees not only means the transportation and increase of pests and diseases throughout the nation, but the decrease in health and fitness of the bees. As Spivak comments in her Ted Talk, “imagine having the flu, getting enough energy to go to the grocery store to get food only to realize there isn’t any variety of healthy food left, and the food that is left is packed with so many chemicals that you eventually die from eating I – that is the unfortunate life of a shipped honeybee, and the growing probable cause of colony collapse disorder. (Spivak, 2013)

Thankfully, in Vermont this trend isn’t as prominent. Most of Vermont’s landscape has remained un-fragmented, filled with native pollinators that are able to travel by themselves to poly cultures full of diverse crops and hefty buffer zones with acceptable nutrient-rich cover crops. These farms are able to sustain this process because of Vermont’s increased affection toward a ‘grow local-consume local’ mission. Vermont’s focus on local living economies continues to grow with help from sustainable organizations that support local farmers, food, landscapes, and related missions. Vermont’s Farm to Plate network works to strengthen the Vermont food system by filling our grocery stores and cooperatives with food from just a few miles away. A classmate of mine, Alex Romac, just started a small business called Vermont Supply Crates, where he sells small packages filled with items from around the state to fellow college students in need of a Vermont supplied present for their families come the holidays. These ideas and small efforts helps increase the demand for local Vermont goods, and the ‘Made In Vermont’ tag which helps fund and support small family owned apiaries around the state.

Considering revenue and sales of Vermont honey and honey bee associated sales, beekeepers in Vermont have been exploring conservation efforts, ideas, and a more robust future of sustainable beekeeping practices. There are many clubs and organizations around Vermont with a mission to upkeep bee keeping and apiary businesses in sustainable ways. The Vermont Beekeepers Association, a non-profit organization starting in 1886, aims to promote the general welfare of Vermont’s honey industry, while sustaining a friendly and supportive network among the state’s beekeepers. There are also county and town clubs to help sustain the growth of small-scale beekeepers and apiculturists. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture Apiary Inspection Program helps monitor the health of hives around the state, helps coordinate sellers and buyers of honey, bees wax, bees and other hives products. The inspection services also work to assist fruit and vegetable farmers with securing honeybees to pollinate crops. Programs like the Bee Informed Partnership are also educating Vermonters on the value of beekeeping systems and the importance of pollination, and the efforts to protect Vermont’s pollinator friendly habitats.

Colleges and universities in Vermont are also a’buzz. Just this past year, the University of Vermont established a beekeeping club. I went the first day to find myself surrounded by forty other interested students. At the end of the meeting, Andrew Schwartz, a student studying community entrepreneurship in the CDAE school, came up to me talk about bees. I realized then there was more hope and interest in bees than I had originally thought from a wide variety of UVM students. For the remainder of the year, the UVM beekeeping club has goals to set up a pollinator-friendly garden behind underclassmen dorms, as well as expanding awareness through community building programs. UVM supports pollinator research in the GUND institute and through the biology department. I have been a research apprentice for Samantha Alger and Alex Burnham, who have been studying RNA viruses in honeybees and bumblebees. This past March, they conducted a pilot experiment studying the fitness of bumblebees when exposed to different levels of an insecticide found in corn seed transported to large beef and dairy farms around the state.

As small apiaries are progressing toward more sustainable practices, the Vermont Department of Agriculture is enforcing specific laws and regulations focused on inspection and health of apiaries and transportation of bees and equipment. Each season, inspectors and field assistants (such as myself) collect hive samples across the state to send in for analysis for the National Honey Bee Survey in conjunction with the Bee Informed Partnership and the USDA Animal Pant Health Inspection Service. As research has detected occurring problems linked to colony collapse disorder and pesticide applications in large-scale inorganic farms, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture has been working toward eliminating the neonicotinoid pesticides in corn seed transported over state borders. (Neonicotinoid, 2015) Meandering around the Burlington Farmer’s market last month, I ran into my old boss David Zuckerman, who is running for Lieutenant State Governor this fall. I mentioned my growing interest in the Vermont beekeeping community, and he quickly responded as he packed parsnips for a customer that he was concentrated on the issues pertaining to apiary laws and pesticide use – my hope for a sustainable beekeeping future became even more validated.

“To produce a single pound of honey, bees need to make 20,000 flights collecting nectar from hundreds of thousands of flowers. Beekeeper Bill Mares is the first to tell you it’s not easy work – “It keeps you in shape” (Bailey, 2000). Reading this reminds me that we must tackle this problem as bees do their work – collectively with strong efficient work to produce many beneficial effects. There have been many organizations, programs, and efforts to help the remaining honeybee population in Vermont remain healthy. Apiaries have been working toward sustainable practices, as have surrounding farms. Education and action on altering mowing cycles, planting pollinator gardens, supporting local apiaries, and simply understanding the importance of our bees can go a long way in helping not only honey production here in Vermont, but the future health of our bees and our pollinated crops upon which we survive. I have been influenced through awareness and education to help, support, and take action to protect and produce healthy lands, farms, bees, and honey. I have hope in the future that involvement towards this sustainable mission will expand throughout Vermont and ripple outwards into New England and beyond. We speak for the bees!

Works Cited

Bailey, Craig. “Sticky Business.” Business People. Oct. 2000. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.

<http://www.vermontguides.com/2000/10-oct/oct2.htm>.

Baird, Joel B. (2010). It’s good to be a VT. Bee. The Burlington Free Press.

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Greenwood, Kim. “Loss of Vermont Hay Fields Limits Food For Bees.” Vermont

Beekeepers Association . Apr. 2014. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

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blog/423-loss-of-vermont-hay-fields-limits-food-for-bees>.

Johnston, Karen. “Getting Started with Wild Pollinators.” Vermont Land Trust. Web. 14 Mar. 2016. <http://www.vlt.org/news-publications/publications-archive/archived-articles/413-pollinators-sotl>.

“Neonicotinoid Pesticides; Safety and Use. “Vermont Agency of Agriculture. 27 Jan. 2105. Web. 14 Mar. 2016. <http://pss.uvm.edu/pat/2015_Handouts/NEONICOTINOID_PESTICIDES_Report_Final.pdf>.

“Pollinators in Peril.” Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department .Web. 14 Mar. 2016. http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/learn_more/critter_cirriculum/pollinators_in_peril.

Spivak, Marla. “Why Bees are Disappearing.” Ted Talk. June 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.

<http://www.ted.com/talks/marla_spivak_why_bees_are_disappearing#t-

176904>.

“Winter Loss Results.” Bee Informed Partnership. 2015. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

<http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/index.php>.

Anna Smith is a student and budding beekeeper at the University of Vermont.