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But large commercial beekeepers are having trouble making a living because of an environmental threat. Massive beehive die-offs known as colony collapse disorder have been linked to factory farms and pesticides, according to a recent study at Purdue University.
Rhodes says he first noticed a problem with his hives in 2005. He had an opportunity to sell hives to a California company for $150 a hive. Before shipping 6,000 hives, Rhodes' foreman told him that the bees didn't seem to be acting normally. By the time they reached California, the bees were dying.
"We couldn't figure out what it was," Rhodes said. "In 10 days, the hives were down to nothing. Bees were flying off, there were no dead bees around the hives."
Rhodes said 4,000 of the 6,000 hives could not be saved. He built the hives back up the following year, but again mysteriously lost bees. In 2008, he lost 7,200 hives; last year, it was 6,000 hives lost.
Through contacts with friends and entomologists and pest control experts, Rhodes learned about colony collapses and the effects of "neonics," or neonicotinoid insecticides. The insecticides are commonly used to coat corn and soybean seeds before planting, and bees bring corn pollen back to their hives to feed young bees, Rhodes said. He says the chemicals disorient bees so they can't find their hives, and also lower their immune system.
The sticky insecticide coatings are mixed with talc to keep the seeds flowing freely in vacuum planter systems, according to the Purdue study. But excess talc is released during planting. The scientists found levels of neonics in corn pollen that would kill bees if sufficient amounts were consumed, and also found extremely high levels of the insecticides in the excess talc.
"We know that these insecticides are highly toxic to bees; we found them in each sample of dead and dying bees," Christian Krupke, associate professor of entomology, said in a Purdue University News Service report.
"Given the rates of corn planting and talc usage, we are blowing large amounts of contaminated talc into the environment," Krupke added. "The dust is quite light and appears to be quite mobile."
Rhodes specifically blames German chemical giant Bayer for making neonics, noting that products like Bayer Advanced kill insects for 12 months.
Rhodes says there are no safe havens, no unexposed bees, because pesticides are sprayed everywhere, over citrus groves, golf courses, nurseries. The implication is that these insecticides pose a threat to the food supply, and possibly humans. Most fruit, nut and vegetable crops depend on honeybees for pollination, Krupke said.
"It's on every damn thing you eat," Rhodes said.
Rhodes said all he can do to protect his bees is to feed them high-protein pollen several times a year, otherwise, he would lose every one of them. The company's drop in production has cost him nearly $2 million annually in recent years, he said.
In Lake County, there are 16 other beekeepers like Rhodes that have more than 200 hives, said Dave Westervelt, District 7 supervisor with the state's Division of Plant Industry.
"Lake County used to be a large beekeeping county with commercial beekeeping," said Ranker, of the state beekeepers association. "But commercial beekeeping is not as prevalent as it used to be. There's still commercial beekeeping, but (some are afraid) of the threat of bees disappearing."
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