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Bee health discussed at Future Forum

Contrary to some reports, bees are not vanishing. Dr. Alan Ayers, Director of Stakeholder Relations and Stewardship with Bayer CropScience told attendees at Corn Soybean Future Forum 2014 in Frankfurt, Germany this morning that over the past 50 years bee colonies have increased 45 – 50% globally.

Despite the fact that there are currently 2.6 million honeybee colonies in the United States, concern over the health of bees and other pollinators is not going away.  Bees are being stressed, explained Ayers. Stressers include parasites on the bees, diseases, habitats, nutrition, weather, and dynamics in moving bees.  Pesticides rank fairly low on the list of key stressers.

“Bayer CropScience has been in the bee health industry for 25 years,” said Ayers.  Bayer has a long history of bringing products to the market to control pests on bees.

Bayer is part of an industry effort to bring best management practices that can help beekeepers, growers, ag input companies and others to be sure bees will thrive in the future.  It is important, explained Ayers, to move forward as a collaborative group, not as individuals to demonstrate how these practices can be put into place.

AUDIO:  Dr. Alan Ayers