Annually for about 13 years, Virginia—like many other states—has been losing about 30% of its honey bee population to a host of problems.
Some might think that there’s no need to worry. But aside from the delicious honey they produce, bees are a major contributor to the production of Virginia agriculture, the state's top commodity.
Kill the bees, kill the economy—not to mention furthering the slow breakdown of the ecosystem. So what's leading to the decline? Virginia Tech entomologist Dr. Troy Anderson says a lot of factors are responsible.
"You have nutrition issues, you have problems with parasite infestations, pathogen infections, you have genetic weaknesses, you have climate, it can also be bee keeping practices, and then also pesticide."
But he believes finding a way to reduce the infestation of a particular mite that targets the honey bee would help mitigate the losses significantly. Virginia Tech has also been monitoring bee keeping facilities. Anderson says they've been trying to promote bee keeping, but that’s difficult when farmers must anticipate losing 30% of their colonies annually.