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Posts Tagged ‘honeybee’

USDA Offers Assistance to Honeybee, Livestock and Farm-Raised Fish Producers

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced disaster assistance is available for livestock, honeybee and farm-raised fish producers who suffered losses in 2008 due to weather conditions and other damages.

The Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP) will fund all low-rate loans to producers. $10 million is disaster assistance is available, and more than $6 million is specifically for honeybee producers.

“American farmers, ranchers and producers should have protection from market disruptions and disasters,” Vilsack said. “The assistance announced today will be particularly helpful to beekeepers whose bees suffered from Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and will also assist other producers facing economic challenges.”

The funding is available for any producers who suffered losses that are not covered under the Supplemental Agricultural Disaster Assistance programs.

Producers can apply now at their local Farm Service Agency office. Money for 2009 losses will be available at the end of this summer.

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Honeybee Colonies Dwindle

Friday, July 16th, 2010

From October 2009-April 2010 managed honey bee colonies across the United States have decreased by 33.8 percent according to a survey by the Apiary Inspectors of America (IAI) and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

Causes for the decline include starvation, poor weather and weak colonies trying to survive winter according to the survey. The numbers are comparable to losses suffered in the winter of 2007-2008.
Jeffrey Pettis, research leader of ARS’ Bee Research Laboratory, notes the high rate loss is worrisome especially since numbers were not obtained for summertime losses. The survey team found that 28 percent of beekeeping operations said colonies perished with dead bees present (a symptom of Colony Collapse Disorder) lost 44 percent of their colonies.

The survey was conducted based on interviews, so there was no way to compare the cases that suffered with CCD and those that had losses due to an absense of bees.
22.4 percent of America’s 2.46 million colonies were evaluated in this survey to use as a tool for honeybee producers.

See the survey here.

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