Nearly One Third of American Bees Died: Is Famine Coming to the USA?

Honey Bee (Apis mellifera)

The rate of deaths of bees has increased in the USA and is putting the food supply at risk:

Honey Bees Are Dying Putting America At Risk Of A Food Disaster

Forget the plight of the polar bear for a moment and consider the coming collapse of the $30 billion honey bee economy in the US.

Since 2006 honey bees responsible for pollinating more than 100 crops—from apples to zucchini—have been dying by the tens of millions. As a new report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) details, scientists are still struggling to pinpoint the cause of so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and time is running out.

“Currently, the survivorship of honey bee colonies is too low for us to be confident in our ability to meet the pollination demands of U.S. agricultural crops,” the report states.

Some signs of beemageddon: CCD has wiped out some 10 million bee hives worth $2 billion over the past six years. The death rate for colonies has hit 30% annually in recent years and there are now about 2.5 million honey bee colonies in the US, down from 6 million in 1947 and 3 million in 1990. That downward spiral leaves “virtually no cushion of bees for pollination,” the report’s authors write.

If that sounds scary, it is. Take almonds. California harvests more than 80% of the world’s almonds. But you can’t grow the nut without honey bees and it takes 60% of the US’s remaining colonies just to pollinate that one $4 billion cash crop.

If the death toll continues at the present rate, that means there will soon be barely enough bees to pollinate almonds, let alone avocadoes, blueberries, pears or plums. “We are one poor weather event or high winter bee loss away from a pollination disaster,” USDA scientist Jeff Pettis said in the report.

In recent years, agricultural pesticides have become a leading suspect in bee deaths. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/06/honey-bees-dying-food-disaster_n_3225599.html?ir=Business

Almost a third of managed U.S. honey bees died last winter, according to a new survey of commercial and home beekeepers. That’s more than triple the losses of 5 to 10 percent that used to be normal for beekeepers before 2005 — and double the 15 percentthat beekeepers say is acceptable for their businesses to continue unharmed.

The finding marks a disturbing trend among honey bees: each winter since 2006, the Bee Informed Partnership has documented losses of 21.9 to 36 percent of U.S. hives. In some states, the die offs have been even more drastic — this year, beekeepers in Montana and South Dakota reported losses of 40 to 50 percent of their hives, and in Maryland, nearly 60 percent of managed bees didn’t make it through the winter.

For some, this year’s losses have been unprecedented, as one beekeeper told the New York Times:

They looked so healthy last spring,” said Bill Dahle, 50, who owns Big Sky Honey in Fairview, Mont. “We were so proud of them. Then, about the first of September, they started to fall on their face, to die like crazy. We’ve been doing this 30 years, and we’ve never experienced this kind of loss before.

The large-scale die offs — attributed in part to a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder — have gained widespread attention in the recent months. That’s partly because if the deaths continue, they could have a major impact on the nation’s food system.

The USDA estimates that one-third of all food and beverages consumed in the U.S. are dependent on pollination, with crops such as almonds and squash relying most heavily on bees to produce seeds. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 71 percent of the world’s most widely-consumed crops are pollinated by bees — and these crops are worth at least $207 billion. But this year, bee losses caused farmers to come extremely close to a pollination crisis, leading to warnings about impending food insecurity.

In April, the European Union implemented a two-year ban on three neonicotinoids, a class of widely-used pesticides that’s been linked in laboratory studies to bee death. The pesticides, which are the most common poisonous chemicals in honey bee environments, attack the bees’ nervous systems, confusing them and impairing their ability to find and gather food. Despite the fact that at least 30 laboratory studies have linked neonicotinoids to bee die offs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency recently released a report that linked Colony Collapse Disorder to a variety of factors and called for more research on neonicotinoids.

Unsurprisingly, the multibillion-dollar chemical industry has fought against a ban on neonicotinoids, rejecting the scientific evidence that the pesticides are contributing to bee deaths. http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/05/10/1974281/honey-bees-food-crisis/

Many companies make pesticides and food extracts while insisting that they must be safe. Yet, even if they are safe in small quantities, the cumulative affects of substances that are not found in nature (and/or not found in concentrated forms) are simply not tested well enough to be sure that they cannot cause any problem. Human “short-cuts” may thus be hurting the bee population–and that would not be good.

Why be so concerned about bees? Because bees are necessary for the pollenization of many plants that humans eat. Wikipedia states:

It is estimated that one third of the human food supply depends on insect pollination, most of which is accomplished by bees, especially the domesticated European honey bee.

One third of human food possibly being dependent upon bees is a significant percentage. Losing half the bees could be devastating.

If pesticides and/or high fructose corn syrup are starting to kill honey bees, presuming this trend continues to increase, the food supply could greatly decrease. (Many are also concerned that the use of high fructose corn syrup, which is normally now from genetically-engineered corn, increases that risk for human health problems like diabetes, which keeps increasing in the world.) Overall, humans need bees much more that bees physically need humans.

Jesus warned that one of the “signs” of the end of the age would be famine:

7…And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matthew 24:6-8)

We seem to be in the time Jesus called “the beginning of sorrows.”

Between the widespread and growing use of genetically modified (GMO) “foods,” pesticides, herbicides, and synthesized sweeteners, countries like the USA are putting themselves at risk for the famines which are certain to come. Losing bees perhaps should be a sign that things are beginning to worsen.

At some time, famine will come to the USA and many will die from it:

15 ‘So it shall be a reproach, a taunt, a lesson, and an astonishment to the nations that are all around you, when I execute judgments among you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken. 16 When I send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread. 17 So I will send against you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken.’ (Ezekiel 5:15-17)

As Jesus said:

37 And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch! (Mark 13:36-37)

Some articles of related interest may include:

Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, British, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first?
Will the Anglo-Nations be Divided and Have People Taken as Slaves? Will the lands of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand be divided? What about Jerusalem? What does Bible prophecy teach? Are there non-biblical prophecies that support this idea? Who will divide those lands? Who will end up with the lands and the people? Here is a link to a video titled Will the USA and other Anglo-nations be Divided and Their People Made Slaves?
Can the Great Tribulation Begin in 2013, 2014, or 2015? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What happens in the “beginning of sorrows”? What is the Day of the Lord?
Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse What is the pale horse of death and pestilence? What will it bring and when?
Prophecies of Barack Obama? Reasons why Barack Obama is apocalyptic and reasons why Barack Obama is not the Antichrist. This article includes many biblical and non-biblical prophecies, from around the world, that seem to discuss Barack Obama. Did Nostradamus predict Barack Obama dealing with the Antichrist? Might Barack Obama set the stage for the kings of the North and South as at least one Shiite prophecy suggests? Read it and decide for yourself if President Obama seems to be fulfilling various prophecies.