Farm Bill Being Finalized
A Conference Committee will soon begin to reconcile the House version of the Farm Bill with the Senate version of the Farm Bill.
There are several provisions in the two bills affecting beekeepers. ABF Vice President David Mendes encourages all beekeepers to contact their Congressmen and tell them how important these provisions are:
To contact any Congressman's office via phone, call the Capitol Switchboard, 202-224-3121, as for the Senator's or Representative's office. When connected ask for the Agricultural Aide.
You can contact Congressmen via their websites at www.Senate.gov and www.House.gov.
Imported Bees Not Source of Virus Associated with Colony Collapse Disorder
BELTSVILLE, Md., November 19, 2007 -- Scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have found that the Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), a virus recently shown to be associated with Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) of honey bees, has been in the United States since at least 2002, according to a note published in the American Bee Journal, December 2007.
CCD May Be Linked to Virus from Australia, Scientists Say; ABF Seeks Moratorium on Imports
The determination that Colony Collapse Disorder might be linked to a virus imported with Australian bees has caused the ABF Board of Directors to call for a moratorium on the imports. In a letter to Cindy J. Smith, administrator of USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the ABF asked that imports be suspended until a survey can be completed to determine what honey bee pests and pathogens exist in the United States and until scientists determine that restarting imports would present no hazards to U.S. honey bee health. American Honey Producers Assn. sent APHIS a similar request.
Virus Discovery Important, Preliminary Finding
The discovery of a virus – apparently associated with Colony Collapse Disorder and apparently imported from Australia – points to the need for additional honey bee research and, therefore, increased funding for this research.
Boxer Pushes To Protect Honey Bees
They're essential to state crops but are disappearing
In addition to representing her 36 million human California constituents, Sen. Barbara Boxer wants to serve the nation's billions and billions of hardworking honeybees. U.S. populations of pollinating honeybees are mysteriously collapsing, and that could cause irreparable damage to crops worth billions of dollars a year across the nation. That in turn could mean higher food prices, and because all kinds of wildlife depend on pollinated plants for food, the decline of pollinators could spell trouble for other animals. Read more at www.sfgate.com.
