On the BBC website today. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23287504
On the BBC website today. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23287504
£200 million a year agri losses due to honeybee decline ... I doubt it. I believe the most recent estimate for the value of "pollination services" is about £430M/annum. And only some of that is honeybees ...
I think honeybees are active pollinators but the idea that commercial beekeeping is responsible for all this pollination doesn't stand up
Oil seed rape doesn't need bees yet that's where they go
Heather doesn't need pollinating either. Each plant can live 30 years and produces 1 million seeds/year
Peas are self pollinating and field beans
Soft fruit mostly now in poly tunnels bumblebees
So hobby beekeepers bees are probably more important in flower and garden pollination including fruit where it is needed
Commercial operations are busy but are they needed for pollination? I doubt that
There was a paper claimed a 15% increase in oil seed rape yield if a sufficient number of honeybee colonies per acre are present but I also think the honeybee pollination stuff is well over-egged unless it is a special situation such as California almonds.
We can spend the entire day now paying homage to hoverflies.
Hi DR.
Commercial pollination by honey bees is very important. It's not just the quantity of fruit pollinated, but also its quality that is affected. For example,a strawberry that has no honeybee colonies to pollinate it ends up with about 37 of the compound fruits that form the berry pollinated,is badly formed, and falls into the throwaway category. One that is honeybee pollinated has about 445 of these fruit pollinated, is well shaped, and comes into the *extra* category.
For osr and sunflower, there is a greater amount of oil in the seed.
Just as an example,for seed forming onions,passive self pollination represents 12%-30%, wind 5-10% and honeybees 65-75%. For the strawberry, the honeybee represents 85-90%. The information comes from l'INRA.
Onion growers though may want self pollination because they otherwise get unwanted cross pollination (all heritage varieties etc)
Most soft fruit round here is in poly tunnel
Here's a little analysis of pollination
http://www.earthtimes.org/conservati...rvices-uk/882/
Folks - we wandered off to discuss a topic that needs space in its own right, the import of Italian and other bees under the SG Restocking funding. Triggered by the appearance of Heather Hills shaking in Italian packages into their empty boxes in a BBC Horizon programme. So let's take all of that discussion here please:
http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/sh...amme-2013-2014
Are neonicotinoid pesticides responsible for the demise of bees and other wildlife?
For once I find myself agreeing with the government ...
Re the above link - I don't expect the bees will be much taken with MP Joan Walleys' dahlias. If she had mentioned lavender or ribes I might have believed she knew what she was talking about
I am keeping an open mind but neonics are used on far more crops than I realised
This is a pro neonic site
http://www.neonicreport.com/home/project-compass/
If you have time to read the info you may come away more concerned about the use of neonics than reassured
Here's a little extract
Neonicotinoid seed treatment technology is embraced by many farmers across Europe for all the crops reviewed. For example, sugar beet farmers strongly depend on this technology, which has transformed their industry since it was introduced in the 1990s. The technology has the potential to also fully transform Oilseed Rape production and many key growing countries already rely on it.
Unfortunately on this forum the Anti movement have overstated their case and created a negative reaction
I think the SBA are wise in reserving judgement while gathering further evidence on both sides
I would exercise caution when taking the views of bee farmers, they see no harm from neonics, but anything that means farmers and beekeepers are in conflict can affect their livelihood
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