Colony Collapse Disorder

Colony Collapse Disorder has been in and out of the media since 2006. With conspiracy theories and non-science abounding, it can be hard to separate truth from fiction.

Dr. Diana Cox Foster of Penn State spoke at Iowa State about her work with CCD. She has been studying bees for 20 years and heads a diverse team of researchers working to solve the mystery. She said that there there are quite a few “theories” that her team disagrees with.

In particular, she said that CCD is not caused by the rapture or the Russians. She puts cell phones and genetically engineered crops in the same category, choosing instead to focus on legitimate leads. She says that there are many reasons why their group is not looking into these as possible causes, but one reason sticks out: some Amish and organic beekeepers whose hives are isolated from genetically engineered crops, many pesticides, and cell phones in the case of the Amish have experienced CCD, while some conventional beekeepers have not.

In other words, there isn’t a common thread connecting colonies that have collapsed.

Despite the fact that scientists like Dr. Cox Foster have spoken on the lack of legitimacy of these theories, people continue to write about them, such as this example from the always creative Global Research. I won’t pick the article apart due to time constraints, but wanted to show the range of views. A lot of mainstream articles have less extreme views, but few if any make an effort to debunk the incorrect theories. Instead, they reinforce them! Karl over at Inoculated Mind has a nice post summarizing some issues with the cell phone and GMO theories that’s over a year old. If only the reporters would research as he did.

There is abundant evidence that the Bt protein Cry1Ab doesn’t affect non-target insects. A meta-analysis from Jan 2008 of 25 independent studies found “that Bt Cry proteins used in genetically modified crops commercialized for control of lepidopteran and coleopteran pests do not negatively affect the survival of either honey bee larvae or adults in laboratory settings.” A meta-analysis from May 2008 of a public database found no significant effect on type or number of arthropods in Bt and non-Bt crops. They did find, as have many others, that various types of insecticides decreases the type and number of arthropods.

A quick lit search did come up with a June 2008 study that showed decreased learning ability in bees that were force fed syrup containing very high concentrations of Bt that are not found in the field. This data might indicate the need for more research on bee physiology, but doesn’t mean that Bt isn’t safe for bees in the field.

Now that we know what it’s not, I’ll share with you what Dr. Cox Foster thinks are the most likely causes and solutions…

From char to fuel?

One of the arguments against biofuels is that (like all agriculture, even organic) it is essentially soil mining. By removing plants that grow on the land, we also remove nutrients. This includes trace essential nutrients like iron and copper as well as the big ones like potassium. We can do our best to replace the nutrients with fertilizers (synthetic or organic) but will never match mother nature. So, what do we do?
Biochar is plant matter (such as corn stover) that has undergone pyrolysis (heating without oxidation). To put it extremely simply, biochar is a large quantity of biomass “condensed” into a smaller quantity of charcoal. All of the minerals in the biomass are now in the biochar. Increasing soil health in the form of microbes is another positive effect of biochar. Plants grown in biochar do better than plants in unamended soil (see picture at right, no info on a comparison to conventional or organic soil amendments.

Weather takes a toll on midwest farms

I usually shy away from pessimism, but if you think food prices are high now, wait until the harvest in 2008. Flooding caused by unrelenting rain has been hard on Iowa’s corn and soy fields – and the summer is just beginning.
After all this rain, late summer droughts are predicted (just when the grain and beans will be maturing). A lot of farmers planted late or still haven’t planted. By the time the corn is silking, corn rootworm beetles will be ready to eat the silks, decreasing pollination and thus yield (in good years, silking is already in progress when rootworm reaches adulthood). The crops could be hit by toxin-producing fungus, rendering the grain poisonous even for feed (perhaps it could still be used for biofuels?).

Peace with agriculture

Brownfield (Ag News for America) posts a lot of news that doesn’t make other media sources. One of my recent favorites pairs two of my life’s loves: the US Army and agriculture.
Nebraska Army National Guard takes ag to Afghanistan
Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 3:36 PM
by Peter Shinn
One of the keys to winning the war in Afghanistan may be helping farmers there grow enough food to feed their families. Doing so will help take land out of opium production, the profits from which are helping to maintain the Taliban as a serious military threat.
That’s why the Nebraska Army National Guard is taking a team of Guard members who are also agricultural producers to Afghanistan later this year, to help make Afghan farmers food self-sufficient. Colonel Mike Johnson is commanding the mission.
“They can raise some opium, but even that with the income, they can’t get enough food to take care of their family for a year,” Johnson told Brownfield. “So if we can go over and help them expand their operation a little bit, and get them enough food from one growing season to the next, they’re going to be a lot better off.”
As for the Nebraska Army Guard members who are going to Afghanistan, Johnson noted they’re making some serious sacrifices to help improve ag production there. And Johnson emphasized it’s not just the Guard members themselves who will bear the burden of their commitment.
“We’re leaving in the fall time-frame, so they’re going to rely on some other folks – good folks in Nebraska – trying to help them out, getting their harvest in as we get ready to go over,” Johnson said.
And Nebraska’s farming and ranching Army Guard members are eager to help. According to Johnson, he had more than twice the number of volunteers for the mission to Afghanistan as he could take. Those selected will be in pre-deployment training for the next few months. The Nebraska Army National Guard joins the Army National Guard of Missouri, Texas, Indiana and Tennessee in sending agricultural support missions to Afghanistan, Johnson added.
Editor’s Note: 1Lt Peter Shinn is a member of the Iowa Air National Guard.

Data mining and GMOs

In order to make sound conclusions about different types of genetically engineered crops and to plan for the future, we’ll need to have sound data about any possible environmental effects of said crops. Researchers from a variety of institutions and disciplines* plan to collect that data. Harvesting Data from Genetically Engineered Crops**, published in the 25 April issue of Science, explains that we can use existing data about pesticide and fertilizer usage, water quality, and information about birds, amphibians, and other animals – if we can connect that data to what types of crops the farmers are planting. A news story, UA Scientists and Colleagues Call for More Access to Biotech Crop Data, has been posted by the U of Arizona. The authors conclude their proposition:

The United States has the world’s most extensive history of using GE crops and one of the world’s best continentalscale programs in environmental monitoring. Combining these two sources of information
provides an opportunity to lead the world in identifying agricultural pathways for the future that best serve people and the environment. Providing scientists access to data on GE crop use at the county scale is a small and relatively inexpensive step with enormous scientific and public benefits.

There’s not much to say about this, other than “Bravo!” No matter what the data shows, it will be valuable. For example, I’d like to know if there is a connection between use of Bt crops and numbers of birds in fields. I’d like to know which pesticides are actually used in what amounts on all of the different varieties of Bt and glyphosate resistant crops. With this knowledge, we can decide if we should restrict or encourage use of particular types of farming practices in order to produce the most human benefit with the least environmental impact.

* The authors are from the Environmental Studies Inst at Santa Clara U, the Dept of Entomology at U Arizona, the Dept of Botany and Plant Sciences at UC Riverside, the Dept of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, The Nature Conservancy, the Dept of Biology at Loyola U Chicago, and the Dept of Biology at U Nebraska.

** I don’t know if it’s legal for me to post a link to the pdf here. If you know the rules, please fill me in!