Commercial beekeeper makes the case for neonics

New op-ed at Hill Times.

There have been many provocative headlines about bees and neonics over the past few years, but who would believe the one at the top of this article? Why would a beekeeper advocate for neonicotinoid-treated seeds?

I keep bees on 20 or so farm properties across three counties in Ontario. All of those farms grow corn and beans that are coated with neonic pesticide. Like every beekeeper, I lose bees over winter from a low of 12 per cent to a high of 48 per cent due to stressors like hive pests, viruses, starvation, disease, pesticide events, bears and, yes, beekeeper error. But I know the hives I have situated at corn fields are no more fragile than the hives at my home farm where the flora are mostly natural. I know many other beekeepers with the same experience.

Simply put, in spite of activist claims, neonic-treated seed is the safest way available to deliver crop protection to corn and beans. But now, thanks to activist and government actions, farmers may be compelled to move to alternative pest management protocols. Bees, commercial beekeepers and farmers will all suffer as a result.

So how did we get to this point? Around the time of spring planting in 2012, there was a flurry of bee-related activity. Some Ontario beekeepers reported bee deaths, along with their suspicion that the cause was exposure to neonic dust in the forage area. The Ontario Beekeepers’ Association and environmentalist groups like the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth then joined together with the goal of banning neonicotinoids.

There has been plenty of science presented that supports the idea that neonics at high rates of exposure will kill a bee. But there is also plenty of science demonstrating there are myriad other stresses at play in bee deaths, i.e. hive pests, viruses, nutrition-related concerns, beekeeper error and more. Furthermore, we have seen that with improvements made over the past couple of years, bees on the farm rarely encounter sufficient exposure to the insecticide to cause acute damage. I know that my bees on and near corn or beans are doing fine.

Practical testimony like this hasn’t stopped a group of Ontario Beekeepers or their activist allies from claiming that neonics are the primary cause for the so-called “beepocalypse.” Environmentalists began a “clicktavism” campaign, complete with online petitions and hashtags like #savethebees, #beesrlife, and #bantheneonics to garner public and political support. The result of this well-designed campaign is that the Ontario government passed neonic restrictions last month.

Late last month, the Grain Farmers of Ontario asked the courts to delay the province’s neonic restrictions. If the restrictions stand, though, bees, beekeepers and farmers all stand to lose.

We’ve already seen the effects of such restrictions in Europe. In the first growing season after Europe banned neonics, 90 per cent of German canola farmers surveyed and 57 per cent of British canola growers reported pest damage. This was bad for farmers, of course, but it was also bad for bees. Without neonics, farmers in Germany and Britain were forced to use four times the quantity of older, broad-spectrum pesticides. Not only are these older pesticides much more harmful to bees, they are applied as a foliar spray—even while bees are foraging—as opposed to a “seed treatment.”

Neonics, in contrast, are most often applied as a coating right on the seed itself, which is drilled directly into the soil at planting. That’s the safest way to keep the pesticide away from bees. Events of the past, where “fugitive” seed dust escaped during planting, are already being addressed with better fluency coatings and equipment improvement. Farmers agree that more can be done about that. But the sadly ironic result of the new Ontario regulations will be to drive farmers to foliar sprays of more harmful pesticides. They will have no economic alternative. One should ask why this outcome, which is so unfortunate for bees, beekeepers and farmers, hasn’t been highlighted until now.

Efficient food production for a growing world population is essential and we need to employ the safest and most efficient ways to maximize yield on scarce arable land. Until something better comes along to control pests, pesticides are part of our food production toolkit.

Let’s not go backwards with technology because a small group of ideologues convinced a few
busy politicians that it was the right thing for the bees. I’m a beekeeper. And I know for a fact that it is not.