Beekeepers tell their troubles to lawmakers
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 5:30 AM PST
Printable version
E-mail this articleStephanie Mathieu
smathieu@tdn.com
Honeybees are dying and experts are baffled
OLYMPIA - Long Beach cranberry farmer Frank Glenn III has seen his industry recently rebound from economic strife, but now a new problem stinging him and other farmers across the state has lawmakers buzzing.
Honeybees, crucial to pollinating the state's crops, are declining at an alarming rate, and experts in the industry don't exactly know why, they told lawmakers Monday during a Senate Agriculture and Rural
Development meeting.
The Yakima-based beekeeper, who typically rents Glenn his honeybees for the monthlong cranberry pollination season in June, might back out this summer because coming to this side of the state is too costly, Glenn said. Trying to find a replacement could cost him even more money as beehive rates continue to rise, Glenn said.
"We're worried about where we're going to get some this year," he said. "It could seriously affect our crop this coming year."
On the table this Legislative session are two bills to provide tax breaks for the suffering beekeeping industry, and senators by the end of the meeting agreed money to research the problem might be in order.
Senate Bill 6299 would give sales tax and business and occupation tax exemptions to licensed beekeepers owning 45 or more hives when they sell products, including packaged bees, honey and beeswax. This bill has the support of Sen. Brian Hatfield, D-Raymond.
S.B. 6468 would provide those tax breaks as well as sales tax exemptions on diesel fuel used for transporting bee products to beekeepers who own one or more hives.
The bills would have a larger impact on local agriculture along the coast, but Cowlitz County Beekeepers Association Secretary Eva Davis said in an interview on Monday that she knows of some farmers in the Woodland area who use honeybees for pollination.
Beekeepers with honeybee colonies in Western Washington experienced tremendous losses just in the last year, said Tim Hyatt of the Washington State Beekeeper Association. Between spring and winter of 2007, the nearly 50 beekeepers he surveyed experienced losses of more than 40 percent of their colonies in the west part of the state.
During Glenn's 30-day pollinating season, he rents one beehive for each of his 125 acres at about $45 a pop, and that price keeps going up because less beekeepers are willing to work in his region, he said.
"This year, who knows where it's going to go," Glenn said.
Experts said research as to why bees are dying is virtually nonexistent. Some blamed queen bees with poor pheromone production, hive exposure to small traces of pesticides or disease.
"Proactive research on colony health has not happened until just six months ago," beekeeper Sue Olson testified. "The bottom line says we have to quit" in areas where honeybees are dying.
Committee Chairwoman Sen. Marilyn Rasmussen, D-Eatonville, said the committee should consider putting up some research money.
"I think somebody will come forward with that proposal," Rasmussen said.
Past Month's Most Commented Stories