Friday, February 28, 2025, 7:41AM |  38°
MENU
Advertisement
2
MORE

Pesticides could be claiming crops along with bee colonies

Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette

Pesticides could be claiming crops along with bee colonies

As the bee population continues to decline, PennEnvironment says it is taking the checkered tradition of picnicking down with it.

In a demonstration at Schenley Plaza in Oakland, the citizen-based environmental advocacy organization illustrated the future of picnics if bees were to disappear. The blanket would be missing traditional picnic foods such as watermelon, macaroni salad, ranch dressing and tortilla chips, and would instead feature lettuce, plain macaroni noodles, a slab of ham and a few onions.

Bees, along with other pollinating insects, transfer pollen and seeds from one plant to another, providing the means for growth and reproduction of those plants, as well as food for other animals. Pollinators are necessary for many fruit and vegetables but are also responsible for the production of several fats, oils and spices.

Advertisement

Stephen Riccardi, citizen outreach director with PennEnvironment, said that bees, which have been declining in numbers since at least the early 2000s, are responsible for pollinating 71 of the 100 crops that are the basis for 90 percent of our food. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about 1 of every 3 bites of food benefits from bee pollination, and pollinated crops add $15 billion annually to U.S. agriculture.

“We aren’t just losing a species, we’re losing an essential part of the food system,” Mr. Riccardi said at Thursday’s demonstration.

On average, 30 percent of bee colonies nationwide are lost annually. In Pennsylvania, 60 percent of bee colonies are lost each year. The USDA said parasites, pathogens, poor nutrition or sublethal exposure to pesticides could be causing the decline.

To raise awareness about the issue, PennEnvironment has been promoting a national campaign to persuade the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban the use of a class of pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, which it believes is linked to the decline of bee colonies. The EPA is currently conducting its own study to determine the effect of the pesticide, but PennEnvironment hopes the government agency will speed up its research and ban the pesticide in the meantime.

Advertisement

Because neonicotinoids are absorbed by the plant, these chemicals — first registered for use in the mid-1990s — can be present in pollen and nectar, making these floral resources toxic to pollinators that feed on them. The pesticides can negatively affect the bees’ learning performance, flying and navigation, and taste sensitivity, according to a study from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

On the other side of the debate, manufacturers say the pesticides are less toxic for mammals than previous pesticides and are only toxic for bees if not used properly.

Kevin Hermann, executive chef of The Porch at Schenley in Oakland and a beekeeper himself, said he did not harvest honey from his hives last year because he was too focused on keeping them alive.

“There must be some level of influence and how [the pesticides] are making it so hard to make that next step of having a good community [in the hive],” he said. The pesticide could be even more detrimental to new hives that are weaker, he added, making it harder to build the population back up.

As a restaurant chef, Mr. Hermann said he was worried that the decline in bee population would make it harder to harvest his own “sweet and savory” honey but that it would also have an impact on most menu items.

“If the bee population goes down, farmers have a harder time growing crops, so their prices go up ... that hits the entire market,” he said.

David Belles, a canvasser for PennEnvironment, said there are different classifications for how much a crop depends on pollination but that most crops fall in the category designating a “great” or “essential” impact of pollination. The only solution, he said, would be to create a system where people hand-pollinate the crops to replace the work of the bees.

“You can’t even have cheese on your hamburger without bees,” he said. “Without bees, you can have a hamburger without a bun.”

Lauren Rosenblatt: lrosenblatt@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1130.

First Published: June 28, 2016, 4:00 a.m.

RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic takes a timeout during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025.
1
sports
Penguins rally after Alex Nedeljkovic’s outburst, beat the Flyers in overtime
Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II, left, and general manager Omar Khan stand on the field before an NFL football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Giants, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Pittsburgh.
2
sports
2025 NFL salary cap will rise to $279 million. Here's what that means for the Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers coach Arthur Smith walks off the field after losing to the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore Ravens won 28-14.
3
sports
Joe Starkey: Was Steelers GM Omar Khan kidding with his Arthur Smith comments?
An example of a Real ID-compliant non-commercial driver's license in Pennsylvania.
4
news
The Real ID deadline is approaching. Here's what Pennsylvanians should know.
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Bubba Chandler delivers in the third inning of a spring training baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers, Fla., Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025.
5
sports
3 takeaways from Pirates’ lopsided spring training victory over Twins
 (Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette)
Representations of what a picnic would look like with a healthy bee population (foreground) and without are laid out at Schenley Plaza in Oakland by PennEnvironment to raise awareness about the decline in bee population.  (Haley Nelson/Post-Gazette)
Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette
Advertisement
LATEST news
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story