bee on a flowering plant

The neonic debate on the future of bees gets real

With tough new regulations on the books, even some beekeepers are calling for compromise

Reading Time: 8 minutes Two months have passed and it seems the adage, “time heals all wounds” just doesn’t hold up. Instead, we’re further into the debate on neonicotinoid seed treatments, but farmers seem no closer to a solution. They may even be a step backwards. There is still no compromise with the beekeeping sector, or with provincial politicians […] Read more

(Photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. EPA proposing temporary pesticide-free zones for honeybees

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — U.S. environmental regulators on Thursday proposed a rule that would create temporary pesticide-free zones to protect commercial honeybees, which are critical to food production and have been dying off at alarming rates. The restrictions are aimed at protecting bees from “pesticides that are acutely toxic” to them, and would cover foliar applications when […] Read more


(Photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. honeybee losses soar over last year, USDA finds

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Honeybees, critical agents in the pollination of key U.S. crops, disappeared at a staggering rate over the last year, according to a new government report that comes as regulators, environmentalists and agribusinesses try to reverse the decline. Losses of managed honeybee colonies hit 42.1 per cent from April 2014 through April 2015, up […] Read more

honeybee on a flower

Researchers abuzz about soybean yields

The research is preliminary, but early results suggest that some bees might be good for soybean crops

Reading Time: 6 minutes Some call it serendipity. Others say it merely proves the old adage that you make your own luck. Either way, some of the world’s biggest scientific breakthroughs have come when the researcher was actually looking for something else. Think penicillin, for example. Matt O’Neal is more a member of the group that says it all […] Read more