Bees are dying by the millions

FRESNO, Calif. — In this high-tech age of tractors steered by Global Positioning System, some things in agriculture still come down to what Bryan Beekman held in his hand.

Bees.

The insects are needed desperately for production of almonds and many other crops. A simple act of nature — pollination by these critters — is the key to a third of the world's food production.

But disaster lurks in bee country. The insects are dying — or disappearing — in droves. Many of Beekman's pollinators, for example, are dead. And nobody knows what happened to half of the 100 million bees owned by David Bradshaw of Fresno. They simply vanished.

With stakes that go far beyond production of California's nearly $3 billion almond crop, researchers are scrambling to find out why bee colonies across the nation are being devastated by a syndrome they call "colony collapse disorder." Theories focus on viruses, fungus and nutrition.

Beekman believes he knows what killed his. He said a Fresno laboratory has found high levels of a pesticide, diazinon, in the bees' remains. The Fresno County Department of Agriculture is conducting its own investigation and has not yet confirmed the diazinon finding.

Bees can be poisoned, and they are susceptible to mites and many other menaces that have plagued beekeepers through the years. And that is taking a toll on morale.

"The last five years, I've lost the fun of doing it," said Beekman, a third-generation beekeeper. "But I don't know what else I would do for a living. Once a beekeeper, always a beekeeper."

It can be a nomadic life of flatbeds and forklifts and chasing the bloom. The payoff, in Beekman's words: "Being your own boss, being outside with Mother Nature. It's the curiosity of seeing them thrive, making them happy."

If they thrive, they perform the highly important — but simple and inadvertent — act of pollination. As they gather nectar, flitting from blossom to blossom, they transfer pollen grains from the male structure of plants to the female structure of plants. This sparks growth of the nut.

But because so many bees are far from thriving now in at least 22 states, concern is mounting.

Looking for answers, about 35 people, most of them beekeepers, gathered at the McDonald's restaurant in Kerman last week for a meeting with Eric Mussen, a bee expert at the University of California at Davis.