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Welcome to Calling on Creatures everybody. I am your host, Laurie,
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and tonight we are talking about I think it's kind
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of an important topic. It's a topic about honeybees. The
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podcast title is Buzzkill or Breakthrough and the Truth about
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Honeybee Health, and tonight I have Matthew Malica on with me.
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He's the senior project director at oh my gosh, now
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I'm blanking, of course, at the Honeybee Health Coalition, and
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he's going to give us all sorts of great information
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about honeybees and what's going on with them and how
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we can maybe help these little guys out because they're
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important to us because they pollinate a lot of our stuff.
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So Matthew, thank you so much for being on the
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podcast tonight.
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Thanks for having me.
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Rory, I'm glad that you're able to come on and
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give out this important information about honeybees because I don't
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think a lot of people understand, you know, that populations
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are kind of declining and we might have quite a
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bit to do with that. So I'm glad we'll get
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to talk about all that stuff.
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Yeah, this is really looking forward to it.
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So what kind of first drew you into the world
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of honeybees and pollinator health. I mean, how'd you get
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started doing all of this stuff?
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Well, so I'm a mediator and I work for an
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organization called the Keystone Policy Center, and we take on
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difficult or intractable issues where you have to use science
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and collaboration and to bring people together and work on
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or manage any given couplemy and so back in twenty thirteen,
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we did an assessment on honeybee health and you know,
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found that, you know, there's a lot of great organizations
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out there doing amazing work, but there wasn't one organization
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that sat.
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At the intersection of agriculture and the health. And you know,
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we really are all ad system. So a lot of
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the bees.
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Are placed throughout aglands and so we have to work
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together if we want to solve this problem.
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And so we convene.
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The initial set of stakeholders in twenty thirteen and launched
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the Honeybeealth Coalition in twenty fourteen.
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And have been going strong ever since.
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Nice.
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So, for listeners that may not be real familiar with
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the Honeybee Health Coalition, how would you describe this coalition
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and planar terms for these guys? So they kind of
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understand who's all making up the coalition and what you
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guys are doing.
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Sure, So the coalition is about fifty.
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Organizations and it is the entire supply chain in agriculture.
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So you have your beekeeping organizations like the American Honey
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Producers Association and the American Beekeeping Federation. You have crop associations,
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you know, soy means and almonds and various fruits and
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vegetables and apples, so that those associations are members. We
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have agribusiness at the table, so you're you're Bayer and Santenta,
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b A, s F, Kurteva and others. We have the
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e p A and the U s p A, federal
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government agencies and r c s. A lot of universities participate,
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and we have a whole research arm and so yeah,
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we have and then and then other.
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N g os. So there's many many other, you.
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Know, nonprofits that work on this. So the idea is,
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let's have one big tent. Let's let's talk about what
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we're doing. And I think we're gonna get into this.
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But one of the the reasons that I think this
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has been successful and so long standing is that we
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recognize that all of the props that are causing the
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health be health decline are interrelated, so pesticides and mites
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and poor nutrition and forage. All of these things we
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have to work.
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On equally and so the coalition.
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But as we do, we bring people together to develop
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projects and programs that can help reverse How.
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Do you be healthy, climb.
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Nice?
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Well, it's good that you guys are all getting together
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to try to figure this out and help out the beach,
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because it sounds like they probably need some help right now.
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So, in your.
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Opinion, what kind of makes your coalition unique compared to
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some of some of the other conservation efforts that go on.
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You know, I think it's the stakeholders involved and the
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fact that you know, you don't often have beekeepers and
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farmers in the same room talking to each other, along
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with chemical companies, the US governments and all of these folks.
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That's just a really unique group of individuals and organizations
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that care deeply about bee health.
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And so, you know, I think what.
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Has kept us together as our ability to have honest,
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frank conversations.
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And decide where are these places that we can have
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a positive impact.
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Right So, before we kind of get into a little
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bit more of the discussion. Can you give the listeners
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just a little bit more information about honeybees, I mean,
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what their lives are, kind of like, you know, kind
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of the things that they actually do, and I know,
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you know, like many bees, they probably have like the
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queen and then the workers and stuff like that. So
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can you just give us a little more general information
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about honeybees.
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Yeah, So there are four thousand.
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Species of native or wild bees in North America. These
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are the bees, the bumble bees, and the basin bees,
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and you know, the blue desert bees they fly around
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your backyard. And then you have managed honeybees, which is
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APIs malifera. These are European honeybees, so they're you know,
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they're I like to say they've been naturalized at this point.
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I mean, they've been here for five hundred years. And
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so these bees, the honey bees, are really the the
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workers of our food supply system.
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So one in three bites of our food.
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Require a bee keeper with an eighteen wheeler to pull
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up when the when the crop is blooming and and
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pollinate that crop.
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And so you have in your hive, you know, anywhere.
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From seventy thousand to one hundred and twenty thousand bees.
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Generally the bees are all female.
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There's a few drones. The drones are the males, and
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they don't they can't sting.
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And they will mate with the queen, and a queen
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will only be made with once.
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For her whole life.
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And the most of the workers are females. They attend
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to the queen, they forage, they have all kinds of
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different jobs. And so, you know, we have these these
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bees in the hide.
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They will, you know, generally.
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Keep on proliferating like eggs throughout the season. They you know,
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often will overwinter and and go dormant when it's cold out.
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And a queen will live, you know, anywhere from one
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to three years. So trying to think, you know that
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these are incredibly interesting social creatures.
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So the the actual being or like the living being
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is the hive. So a single.
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Honey bee is not it is well, it is an organism.
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It cannot live on the zone it had they had.
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The colony is really the organism, and so just just
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fascinating creatures that that we really rely on. So that's
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kind of a long and widening answer, but it's good
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to differentiate between your honey bees and native bees, and
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understand that the honey bees are the ones that beekeepers
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keep and that and that pollinate our food.
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Now, is there any way to kind of tell the
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difference between say a honey bee and another bee that's
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not a honey bee.
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Yeah, honey bees are very distinct looking. One thing I
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can say, like a good way to tell a honey
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bee or a native bee from say a hornet or
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a wasp, is that honey bees and native bees kind
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of look very soft and kind of friendly when you
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look at the them closely, whereas a hornet or a
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wasp had really spiky hair on.
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Them, and they kind of look just a little bit sharper.
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And so you know, that's one distinction. And then of
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course all bees look very different.
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You know, a honey bee looks very different than a
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bubble bee, and with four thousand species, they all kind
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of look a little different.
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Okay, I was just gonna say, because obviously, I know
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bumble bees are kind of I think fatter you make say,
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fluffy or stuff like that. But yeah, so okay, interesting.
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So we do often hear that bees are essential, but
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what does that kind of really mean for people in
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their everyday life?
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Well, imagine walking into your grocery store and a third
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of the and vegetables are god. So that's that's the
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impact these make. So they support eighteen billion.
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Dollars in agriculture a year or so.
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All your cucumbers and your melons, your peppers, your almonds, apples, pears, watermelons,
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all of these shirts and vegetables require pollination services.
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You know, with.
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Three hundred and thirty million people in this country, we
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really can't rely just on the native.
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Bees to pollinate all the food that we eat.
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It's a very organized system and so incredibly important to
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agriculture is having these bees available and healthy to be
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able to pollinate the crops that we eat.
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Okay, okay, So I mean it sounds to me like
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if we were kind of looking at the broader picture
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of what our agriculture and food systems would look like
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without all of these healthy honey bees doing what they're doing,
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we would be looking at almost nothing when it comes
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to crops and things like that and our food.
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From what you're saying, yeah, yeah, I mean your your
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row crop agriculture, corn.
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Story, beans, wheat, they don't they don't need bees.
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These you know, can't forage on those crops, but the
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very the specialty crops.
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That that that heavily rely on on bees.
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Okay, okay, so well and probably as well. I mean,
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we're not just looking at like our food crops and
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stuff like that either, are we. We would be also
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talking about don't they help pollinate for like the you know,
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our flowers and things and stuff like that too.
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Sure, Yeah, ornamental flowers, sunflowers, Yeah, and especially you know,
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native bees and certain flower species evolve together, and so
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a lot of bees are only found in areas with
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certain flowers because they've been paired up to the evolution.
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And and yes, certainly.
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All of bees love the flowers in your back in
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your backyard.
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And yes, certainly important flowers as well.
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So they kind of fit into that the broader pollinator
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world alongside your native bees and some of the other species.
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Because it sounds like the honey bees do a little
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bit more for like maybe the agricultural side and stuff
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and the flowers, like you just said, But then you
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have your native species that are kind of endemic, and
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they they kind of help take care of, you know,
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their little area of pollination and stuff.
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Yeah, it's all really, it's a very it's a it's
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a very pretty complicated system, but I think they're all
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very important in their own ways.
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So what would you say are the primary that's threats
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to honeybee health nowadays?
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Well, the simplest way to put it, and it's mostly accurate, is.
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That you know, there's three main causes of the health decline.
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And so you have a lack of good forage and nutrition.
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So we have two and a half million hives, and
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the bee keepers don't own enough land to place all
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of their hives. They have to rely on agricultural lands,
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and so when they're out there, there has to be
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enough flowers for them to forage on. And so when
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there's not and you have a lack of good forge
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and nutrition, when they're out on the landscape, they're often
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inadvertently impacted by pesticides, and so those two factors are
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weakening factors. So not enough forward to nutrition, impact from
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pesticides weakened the these And then there's a mite called
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the verroamite that can that is ubiquitous. It's it's all
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across the country, and that might.
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Transmits diseases to the hives.
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And if it wasn't for you know, lack of good
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forge nutrition, and negative impacts from pesticides. Maybe the bees
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could better fight off those diseases, but it really comes
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together as a perfect storm of those factors, and that
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that's what really kills the.
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Bees, all three of those things.
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Okay, Okay, So it sounds like the verroamites are a
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big danger. But again, like you said, it all has
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it's all kind of put together with the different things,
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the nutrition and then these mites and and stuff like that. No,
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I'm sorry, why are the mites uh so destructive?
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Again? They're the ones that bring the disease into the best.
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Yeah, the the vera mike.
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Evolved alongside a different species of bee called APIs versada
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in Southeast Asia, and when it was introduced in the
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late eighties into the into North America and it found
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the honeybee host. The honey bees didn't have an effective
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way to combat those mites, and so that's why it's
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so destructive. And then they transmit disease, which which killed
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the best.
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Okay, okay. And a question that just kind of pops
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into my mind when we're talking about different species of
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bees and stuff, like we're you know, we've been having
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a problem now for probably I don't know how many years,
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but we have the Africanized bees that are comeing in
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as well. So how big of a danger are they
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to the honey bees? I mean are they? Are they
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killing helping to kill some of the honey bees? Do
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they intermingle with the honey bees and produce a more
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of a hybrid type of bee.
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What's going on with that?
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Yeah, so killer bees, that's just a genetic trait of
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honey bees.
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So killer bees.
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Are honey bees, but they're just very aggressive and so
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you get them traveling up from Mexico and Texas really
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warm climates, and so they are just very hard to manage.
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So you wouldn't want really a killer bee.
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Genetics to intermingle with your other honey bees that you're
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using for pollination, because eventually all of the bees would
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get very aggressive and impossible to.
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Manage because as soon as you go near a hive,
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they would.
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Attack you right right, And that's not good if you
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can't get near the hive. Yeah, because I'm sure the
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beekeepers like to go and harvest the honey that the
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honey bees make.
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So yeah, that's speaking.
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Yeah, incredibly important that we not have you know.
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Too many Africanized bees, and then we keep our genetic
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stocks right.
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Speaking of harvesting honey and stuff, how much honey does
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a honey bee hive produce normally?
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I think it really depends.
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I think I've for thirty to seventy pounds per colony.
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But it's just it's very variable.
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That can be a lot of honey when you stop
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and think about it. I mean, especially when these beekeepers
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have you know, a lot of them have more than
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one hive. So yeah, that's quite a bit of honey
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that's getting harvested when you stop and think about it
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to go into our foods and just I mean for
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honey for people that like to eat honey and their stuff.
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So yeah, so it's you know, you have.
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This huge industry of backyard beekeeping and those people might
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have you know, one to I don't know eight hives,
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and so eighty percent of the beekeepers are backyard beekeepers,
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and those backyard beekeepers are have about twenty percent of
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the hives. The commercial beekeepers, who might have one thousand
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and ten tho twenty thousand hives, they make up about
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twenty percent of the bees of the bees beekeepers and
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they manage eighty.
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Percent of the bees in the country. So your big
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honey producers, you know, they are producing tons of honey.
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Wow.
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Now, typically when you have like all of these hives
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and stuff, do the beekeepers I mean obviously out in
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the wild or maybe even with the backyard beekeepers, I
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don't know, do the honey bees make their own hives
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or are what are the hives that they are given
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like for especially for the big commercial like ones. What
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are these hives typically, like, I mean, are they made
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out of a certain material for the honey bees or
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what are they?
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Yeah, it's called Langstroff hives, and they are made of wood,
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and they have when the bees are already there's there's
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broot chambers where the the bee the queen lays eggs
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in cells and those are the bees that are almost
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constantly hatching. And then on top of that is you know,
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there's a what's called a queen excluder, so the queen
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can't get up into the higher boxes and so she
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doesn't lay eggs in the higher boxes and those are
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called honey scoopers.
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And so when the honey flow.
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Is on, when the when all the flowers are, when
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all the plants are flowering, the honey bees will store
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the honey in the cells in the top boxes, and
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as they fill them up, the beekeepers will put more
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and more honeycoopers on top of those boxes.
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So that's why you see sometimes you know.
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One, two, three, four boxes on top of each other.
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And that's as the colony is growing and producing more honey,
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they have places to grow into and then.
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Places to store honey.
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Okay, and normally the queen, now obviously she lays the
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eggs and stuff. What all does she actually do in
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the hive? I mean, is she kind of like obviously
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she's the queen, Is she kind of in charge? Does
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she director workers in a certain way or how does
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that work with her?
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All she does is lay eggs until she does lay eggs.
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Yep, she'll she'll go out once to make a mating flight,
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and and of course she can't mate with her own offspring.
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Her own drones, and so she flies out and and there's, uh.
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There's a mating that goes on in the air with
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with neighboring honeybee colonies. And interestingly, after the male drone
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mates with the queen, he explodes or he pops, it
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dies and and then she goes back she's been inseminated
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or she's she has has the semens for the rest
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of her life from multiple drones, and then her work for.
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The rest of her life is to lay eggs.
354
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Wow, And how long has the queen bee usually lived?
355
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You know, anywhere from one to three years?
356
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Okay, so that like days or anything. So, so it's
357
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it's a longer life span than what some other insects have.
358
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So so then the drones and stuff, is it just
359
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kind of inherent in them what they're supposed to do
360
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as the drones, I mean to go out and pollinate
361
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and and do the honey and stuff like that.
362
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The drones just just inseminate the queen And then you know,
363
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that's maybe five.
364
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Percent of the bees or even less.
365
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And then nine percent of the bees are the workers,
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the females, and they have many jobs from tending to
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the queen, to foraging, to cleaning out the hive of
368
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of dead bees, kicking out the drones before winter, they'll
369
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actually shoot them out out of the out.
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Of the hive, so only the females over winter. And
371
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you know, really the the last job.
372
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Of a worker bee is to forage and they basically
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forage until you.
374
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Know, they they die.
375
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So they had the last job is to forage until
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basically you know, they can't they can't make it back
377
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to the high anymore.
378
00:23:13.240 --> 00:23:15.799
Okay, so the poor drones they just kind of get
379
00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:17.640
the short end of the stick all the way around.
380
00:23:18.920 --> 00:23:22.160
Well the drone. Yeah, the drones they have one job,
381
00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:24.799
and then that the workers have another, and the queen
382
00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:26.160
is another, right right.
383
00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:31.200
That's amazing that that the male pops after the meeting.
384
00:23:31.400 --> 00:23:33.200
I mean, you know, you hear about you know, things
385
00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:35.759
like you know, the pring mantis eats the you know,
386
00:23:35.880 --> 00:23:37.720
the mail and you know, and then and the black
387
00:23:37.720 --> 00:23:39.880
wettals and stuff like that. So it's interesting with some
388
00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:42.480
of these. I learned so many new things when I
389
00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:45.279
do this podcast about all these different insects and animals.
390
00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:45.880
It's amazing.
391
00:23:47.160 --> 00:23:48.400
Is amazing.
392
00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:52.039
There's ants that blow up too. I was I did
393
00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:54.200
a podcast about ants. I found out about that they
394
00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:56.480
have e mt ants, they have ants that will blow up,
395
00:23:56.480 --> 00:23:58.279
they have all sorts of stuff that go on with ants.
396
00:23:58.279 --> 00:23:58.920
I was amazed.
397
00:24:00.599 --> 00:24:04.440
Yeah, growing up with such a favor part of nature.
398
00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:10.559
Yeah, you know, so, and we've been talking about, you know,
399
00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:14.079
several different things that kind of all factor into a
400
00:24:14.119 --> 00:24:19.160
lot of the honey bee help. So like pesticides, habitat loss,
401
00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:23.519
and nutrition, those all kind of interact together to put
402
00:24:23.559 --> 00:24:26.079
their health in jeopardy. I mean, it's not just one
403
00:24:26.119 --> 00:24:28.519
thing alone, it's all of these things together.
404
00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:32.160
It is, Yeah, and that's that's really what they figured
405
00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:35.200
out was called a collapse facility with the you know,
406
00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:37.720
they didn't really know and so we really don't use.
407
00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:39.920
That term anymore because you have a good idea of
408
00:24:39.960 --> 00:24:42.599
why these are dying and it's really all of these
409
00:24:42.599 --> 00:24:43.240
things together.
410
00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:46.759
So do you think things are getting any better or
411
00:24:46.839 --> 00:24:49.359
are they getting worse? Or are they just more complicated
412
00:24:49.400 --> 00:24:50.319
than they were before?
413
00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:55.559
Well, last year's sixty two percent of all the bees sides, Oh,
414
00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:56.839
that was the that was.
415
00:24:56.799 --> 00:25:01.440
The worst it's ever bet it's I would say that
416
00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:06.000
that things are not getting better. And so you have
417
00:25:06.039 --> 00:25:08.880
a lot of people working on this and it was
418
00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:13.599
just kind of a perfect storm last year where they
419
00:25:13.720 --> 00:25:17.000
just just didn't make it in large numbers.
420
00:25:18.279 --> 00:25:21.640
So are we doing anything to at least to kind
421
00:25:21.640 --> 00:25:24.119
of help out with the pesticides and stuff that we
422
00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:27.079
have out there? Are we trying to figure out what
423
00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:30.440
we can do if we have to use a pesticide.
424
00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:31.759
What might not harm the bees as much?
425
00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:35.799
Or are we trying to find an answer to using
426
00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:39.720
something other than pesticides to like say, maybe kill off
427
00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:44.240
the insects that we don't want eating our plants.
428
00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:49.359
Yeah, you know, past with as many people in our
429
00:25:49.359 --> 00:25:52.519
country as we have and the agricultural systems that we
430
00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:56.680
have in place, you know, pesticides are a part of
431
00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:03.240
our agricultural system. The new and nicketsinoids that that farmers
432
00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:07.880
use now are a lot better than the pyreethroids and
433
00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:12.079
organo phosphates that we used in the fifties and sixties.
434
00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:15.839
That we're actually giving farmer's cancer. There are.
435
00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:22.759
Bio chemical biopesticides, they're being developed, and really it comes down.
436
00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:26.240
To making sure that farmers.
437
00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:29.039
Are following the label that that they're they're they're not
438
00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:32.920
applying the chemicals in the heat of the day when
439
00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:38.240
when bees are flying, that they're providing fresh water sources
440
00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:44.920
that are clean of pesticides, and that they're you know,
441
00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:48.119
especially when they're planting, that they're using like.
442
00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:53.200
Fluency agents on the seeds that they don't rub against
443
00:26:53.200 --> 00:26:56.640
each other and cause dust, that the harms of the bees.
444
00:26:58.039 --> 00:27:00.920
And so yeah, there's there's a lot of a lot
445
00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:03.319
of work being done on.
446
00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:06.279
All different aspects of pesticides and beehealth.
447
00:27:09.079 --> 00:27:11.119
So right now, could you tell us what some of
448
00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:14.519
the most impactful initiatives are that the coalition's currently working in.
449
00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:18.839
Sure So, we are.
450
00:27:20.680 --> 00:27:28.400
Developing or have developed best management practices b MPs for corn, canola.
451
00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:32.359
Soybeans, and apples. We have a.
452
00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:39.200
Uh an educational module for pesticide applicators for how they
453
00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:43.880
can do their jobs and protect bees. We have research
454
00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:47.839
projects on finding the next varoa side and so you
455
00:27:47.960 --> 00:27:53.440
have these you know, compounds that beekeepers put into their
456
00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:57.759
hives that kill the mites but don't kill the bees,
457
00:27:58.160 --> 00:27:59.880
and so you can imagine it's a it's a it's
458
00:27:59.880 --> 00:28:02.759
a difficult thing to kill a little buck on a
459
00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:05.720
big buck without killing the big buck.
460
00:28:06.200 --> 00:28:10.400
And so we're trying to find new ways of doing that.
461
00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:15.440
We are working with the federal government to improve federal
462
00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:20.079
conservation programs so that we can get more flowers out
463
00:28:20.119 --> 00:28:25.799
of the landscape, especially in and around ag lands. And
464
00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:28.960
we're generally just a conduit for people to talk with
465
00:28:29.079 --> 00:28:33.880
so much research and projects and programs out there. This
466
00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:38.000
is a base and environment for everyone to know what's
467
00:28:38.039 --> 00:28:40.359
going on and to figure out ways to work together.
468
00:28:42.200 --> 00:28:42.599
Awesome.
469
00:28:42.680 --> 00:28:44.599
Well, I'm glad that you know you're working with the
470
00:28:44.599 --> 00:28:47.799
federal government and stuff like that to you know, help
471
00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.759
get this stuff taken care of and try to figure
472
00:28:50.759 --> 00:28:53.519
out some answers. And it kind of sounds like I mean,
473
00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:57.599
it sounds like science and research's playing a pretty big
474
00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:00.559
role in some of your strategies that you guys are
475
00:29:00.599 --> 00:29:01.200
coming up with.
476
00:29:02.079 --> 00:29:06.559
Yeah, it's incredibly important. You know, if these were cows,
477
00:29:06.839 --> 00:29:08.119
we wouldn't have as much of.
478
00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:10.559
These many issues because you didn't know.
479
00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:12.799
So much about cows, for example.
480
00:29:13.839 --> 00:29:19.839
So the bees are really something that were understanding better.
481
00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:24.599
And also how to control the impacts of these mites,
482
00:29:24.920 --> 00:29:26.079
the diseases.
483
00:29:25.640 --> 00:29:30.039
Affector, pesticides and all of.
484
00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:32.200
The ways that we can improve the health and research
485
00:29:32.279 --> 00:29:34.839
and bring people together and collaboration are.
486
00:29:34.759 --> 00:29:36.160
Huge, right.
487
00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:38.480
Well, yeah, it's always a big thing when you have
488
00:29:38.519 --> 00:29:40.119
to bring a bunch of people together to try to
489
00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:43.160
figure things out. Do you happen to have an example
490
00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:45.960
you could share where this collaboration between the farmer's bee
491
00:29:46.119 --> 00:29:49.000
keepers and stuff has made an actual difference that you've
492
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:49.599
seen so far.
493
00:29:51.079 --> 00:29:54.279
Well, it's hard to pinpoint any one action, because it's
494
00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:55.759
a it's a huge system.
495
00:29:55.880 --> 00:29:57.960
So the United States is a massive country.
496
00:29:57.960 --> 00:30:01.440
We have you know, many many people that here, and
497
00:30:01.480 --> 00:30:06.680
there's countless efforts going on to improve the health, to
498
00:30:06.759 --> 00:30:13.279
plant flowers and protect the bees from pesticides. And you know,
499
00:30:13.799 --> 00:30:16.680
sixty percent of the bees dies died last year, and
500
00:30:16.759 --> 00:30:22.119
so it's you know, despite our best efforts, there's still.
501
00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:22.839
A lot of work for done.
502
00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:26.200
Yeah, it sounds like, I mean, that's too bad that
503
00:30:26.279 --> 00:30:28.960
I mean that so many bees died last year. I
504
00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:31.160
knew I had heard, you know, there was a bunch
505
00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:33.319
of alarms and stuff that were being kind of raised
506
00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:37.799
over the amount of bees that had died last year
507
00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:40.079
and stuff. And that's what kind of you know, brought
508
00:30:40.119 --> 00:30:42.759
all of this to the forefront. I think Moore is
509
00:30:42.759 --> 00:30:46.359
is hearing about how many died in unders trying to
510
00:30:46.440 --> 00:30:49.440
understand what an impact that's going to make on our
511
00:30:49.559 --> 00:30:52.160
environment and our agriculture.
512
00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:54.720
Yeah, it's very, very alarming.
513
00:30:55.039 --> 00:31:00.799
So the Health Coalition can mean the Domestic Lockings Hearing Committee,
514
00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:02.680
So that was the US.
515
00:31:02.359 --> 00:31:06.720
Government and all of the beekeeping organizations and other abarea.
516
00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:07.359
Spectis of America.
517
00:31:08.119 --> 00:31:11.880
There's a great organization called Project Apism that does research
518
00:31:12.359 --> 00:31:16.640
and funds research, and so we brought everyone together and
519
00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:23.680
acted as the you know, response team to the country.
520
00:31:24.759 --> 00:31:28.240
So for like say, average people like myself and other
521
00:31:28.319 --> 00:31:31.359
listeners and stuff that are out there, what would you say,
522
00:31:31.400 --> 00:31:34.480
are some simple, meaningful ways that we could help support
523
00:31:34.599 --> 00:31:37.759
bee help to try to help you guys with what
524
00:31:37.799 --> 00:31:38.279
you're doing.
525
00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:42.319
Sure, So I think the number one thing is to
526
00:31:42.319 --> 00:31:43.279
buy local honey.
527
00:31:44.680 --> 00:31:50.920
It's got so many benefits for people and reducing allergies,
528
00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:53.440
and it just supports your local beekeeper.
529
00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:55.200
And so buy local honey.
530
00:31:55.720 --> 00:32:00.000
Plant flowers, you know, native these honey.
531
00:32:00.039 --> 00:32:02.279
They require pond and.
532
00:32:02.359 --> 00:32:04.759
Nectar and the only way to get pollen nectar is
533
00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:08.880
through flowers. So planting flowers in your backyards on land
534
00:32:08.920 --> 00:32:11.279
that you own is very important.
535
00:32:12.079 --> 00:32:14.079
And finally, if you do.
536
00:32:13.960 --> 00:32:19.920
Apply pesticides in your landscaping, follow the label. It's most
537
00:32:19.960 --> 00:32:24.599
people don't ever peel off the back of that landscaping
538
00:32:25.160 --> 00:32:28.079
you know pesticide if they use one, But if you do,
539
00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:30.480
you have to make sure that you're following the label.
540
00:32:31.880 --> 00:32:34.039
You can also provide.
541
00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:38.720
You know, clean water sources for me, but I think
542
00:32:38.799 --> 00:32:41.720
I think those are generally the top four things I
543
00:32:41.720 --> 00:32:45.839
would say is buy local honey plant flowers, follow the
544
00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:49.519
label on your landscaping pesticides, and maybe have a little
545
00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:52.799
water source for them.
546
00:32:52.839 --> 00:32:57.359
Are there any specific plants or other practices that you
547
00:32:57.440 --> 00:33:00.000
might recommend for creating a pollinator friendly space?
548
00:33:00.279 --> 00:33:04.480
I meant sometimes where you live, you want to have
549
00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:06.240
you know, native flowers are great.
550
00:33:07.400 --> 00:33:08.559
You want to make sure.
551
00:33:08.359 --> 00:33:11.680
That the plants that you're planting are appropriate to your
552
00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:12.880
elevation and climate.
553
00:33:14.519 --> 00:33:18.240
And there's a number of you know, seed calculators.
554
00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:21.000
If you go to pollinator dot org, which is the
555
00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:27.480
Pollinator Partnership's website, you can find a seed calculator, a
556
00:33:27.519 --> 00:33:28.720
designed mixer.
557
00:33:29.559 --> 00:33:32.039
Okay, Okay, that's interesting.
558
00:33:32.039 --> 00:33:34.319
I know because here in Arizona, I know there's certain
559
00:33:34.359 --> 00:33:37.359
plants here that we have that are be friendly and
560
00:33:37.400 --> 00:33:39.279
a little tract the bees and stuff like that.
561
00:33:39.480 --> 00:33:45.119
So yeah, you know, if you're if you're buying pollinator
562
00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:51.160
plants from garden centers, you might ask if if they've
563
00:33:51.160 --> 00:33:54.599
been treated with new nickeotinoids, probably better if they're not.
564
00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:58.759
Okay, well, that's always good to know. So if anybody
565
00:33:58.759 --> 00:34:00.759
out there is getting plants like that, hey, that's what's
566
00:34:00.759 --> 00:34:03.400
something you need to check on. That's something that probably
567
00:34:03.400 --> 00:34:06.319
a lot of people don't realize that, you know, they
568
00:34:06.359 --> 00:34:08.119
need to check and see what may have been used
569
00:34:08.159 --> 00:34:09.840
on those plants when they get them.
570
00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:11.480
Yep, exactly.
571
00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:15.679
So can you tell us a little bit more about
572
00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:18.320
I mean obviously buying you know, local honey and stuff
573
00:34:18.360 --> 00:34:20.840
like that, but how can consumers kind of make more
574
00:34:20.840 --> 00:34:24.440
informed choices that can help support the pollinators?
575
00:34:25.800 --> 00:34:27.760
You know, I think it's it's really just buying that
576
00:34:27.800 --> 00:34:31.360
local honey and making sure that it is honey. There's
577
00:34:31.400 --> 00:34:34.079
so much you know, if you're in the grocery store
578
00:34:34.119 --> 00:34:39.079
and you see honey that's you know.
579
00:34:39.239 --> 00:34:42.360
A dollar ninety nine, you might read that you might.
580
00:34:42.280 --> 00:34:45.679
Check the label and and look at the ingredients list
581
00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:46.840
to make sure.
582
00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:50.639
That it's that it's uh doesn't say like honey product.
583
00:34:51.320 --> 00:34:54.599
It'll often say things that are a little bit suspicious
584
00:34:55.320 --> 00:35:00.880
instead of just saying ingredients honey. Well, and you know,
585
00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:04.400
the real honey is probably going to be five nine,
586
00:35:04.840 --> 00:35:07.679
seven ninety nine and not a dollar ninety nine.
587
00:35:07.719 --> 00:35:10.840
But that's that's your indication of what you're buying is
588
00:35:11.159 --> 00:35:15.320
is you know, don't just buy the cheapest stuff that's probably.
589
00:35:14.920 --> 00:35:20.079
Not honey, so it's from a consumer standpoint. I think
590
00:35:20.079 --> 00:35:20.880
that's the biggest thing.
591
00:35:22.679 --> 00:35:24.840
Well, that's good information because probably a lot of people
592
00:35:24.920 --> 00:35:27.039
don't really think that, you know, they're just thinking if
593
00:35:27.079 --> 00:35:29.159
it says it's honey, it's honey, then they don't really
594
00:35:29.159 --> 00:35:30.400
look at those ingredients.
595
00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:32.519
So that's that's a good thing.
596
00:35:32.519 --> 00:35:34.760
And yeah, I mean I would, I would kind of
597
00:35:34.800 --> 00:35:37.960
expect if you're getting the real honey, that's just honey,
598
00:35:38.039 --> 00:35:39.639
that it probably is going to be a little more
599
00:35:39.639 --> 00:35:42.280
expensive than this other stuff that has all these ingredients
600
00:35:42.360 --> 00:35:42.800
thrown in.
601
00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:49.119
Yeah, a lot of times, you know, especially foreign imports,
602
00:35:49.480 --> 00:35:53.239
will take honey and they'll blend it with hype of
603
00:35:53.320 --> 00:35:56.840
Jose corn syrup for example, and so you know, it.
604
00:35:56.760 --> 00:35:59.960
Tastes like honey and it passes the inspection when they're
605
00:36:00.119 --> 00:36:04.039
get at the port and there bringing it in, but.
606
00:36:04.119 --> 00:36:05.079
It's not honey.
607
00:36:05.239 --> 00:36:08.960
It's it's maybe you know, half honey or a third honey,
608
00:36:08.960 --> 00:36:11.800
and the rest is hyper does corns there up another.
609
00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:15.760
Sweeteners right right, So, and honey is much better for
610
00:36:15.800 --> 00:36:17.559
you if it's just regular honey than it is if
611
00:36:17.559 --> 00:36:19.880
it has a bunch of sweeteners stuff put in it.
612
00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:21.400
So and and.
613
00:36:21.320 --> 00:36:23.159
Like you said, there's all sorts of uses you can
614
00:36:23.239 --> 00:36:25.719
use honey for that I'm just reading online. I'm just
615
00:36:25.800 --> 00:36:27.920
others some other uses and stuff that you can.
616
00:36:27.840 --> 00:36:31.039
Use it for. So comes in handy for a lot
617
00:36:31.039 --> 00:36:31.440
of things.
618
00:36:32.079 --> 00:36:35.559
Yeah, it's a delicious product. Nature's nature's sweetener.
619
00:36:35.880 --> 00:36:36.719
Yep, exactly.
620
00:36:38.280 --> 00:36:41.360
So what kind of gives you some hope about the
621
00:36:41.360 --> 00:36:42.440
future of honeybees?
622
00:36:44.559 --> 00:36:48.719
You know, I think that the the the people we
623
00:36:48.840 --> 00:36:52.559
call them, the people, the people, the people.
624
00:36:52.280 --> 00:36:56.679
That work on BeHealth is an incredible.
625
00:36:56.119 --> 00:37:02.039
Community of of you know, researchers and scientists and you know,
626
00:37:02.119 --> 00:37:06.239
all these NGOs and and the federal government. They are
627
00:37:06.280 --> 00:37:09.400
all working really really hard on all of these issues
628
00:37:09.840 --> 00:37:14.079
and really leading no stone unturned on how do you
629
00:37:14.119 --> 00:37:15.519
solve this problem?
630
00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:18.119
And so that's the one thing that you know, if
631
00:37:18.159 --> 00:37:19.440
I get pinpoint one.
632
00:37:19.320 --> 00:37:25.119
Thing, it's it's all of the incredible students and postdocs
633
00:37:25.440 --> 00:37:29.599
and up and coming researchers that are.
634
00:37:29.440 --> 00:37:30.760
Just doing incredible things.
635
00:37:31.079 --> 00:37:36.360
There's new modeling and people are even bringing in AI
636
00:37:36.920 --> 00:37:39.840
too to help solve some of these problems and understand
637
00:37:40.199 --> 00:37:40.639
all of.
638
00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:42.760
These systems that are interacting.
639
00:37:42.880 --> 00:37:46.800
It's incredibly complicated, and that all of these things, the people,
640
00:37:47.440 --> 00:37:52.480
the technology, it's all you know, hopefully leading to us
641
00:37:52.679 --> 00:37:56.079
better figuring out how to to solve this crisis and
642
00:37:56.119 --> 00:37:57.079
to improve BeHealth.
643
00:37:58.039 --> 00:38:00.239
Well hopefully, I mean a lot of people are turn
644
00:38:00.280 --> 00:38:03.000
into AI for a lot of different things, so hopefully
645
00:38:03.480 --> 00:38:06.599
it'll help you guys out with what you're trying to
646
00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:08.800
do there at the coalition and figure out some of
647
00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:11.639
this stuff for the bees and maybe even help you
648
00:38:11.679 --> 00:38:13.800
to kill those little mites on the bees.
649
00:38:14.920 --> 00:38:15.760
Yeah, exactly.
650
00:38:17.480 --> 00:38:20.440
Well, Matthew, we're kind of getting to the end of
651
00:38:20.599 --> 00:38:23.960
our discussion here. I mean, you've given us a whole
652
00:38:23.960 --> 00:38:25.920
lot of stuff to think about and a whole lot
653
00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:30.400
of information, and hopefully people out there will take a
654
00:38:30.440 --> 00:38:33.400
lot of this to heart and do what they can
655
00:38:33.519 --> 00:38:36.039
to try to help out, you know, and bring this
656
00:38:36.159 --> 00:38:38.800
bee health back up, and hopefully.
657
00:38:38.400 --> 00:38:39.920
We don't use as many bees as.
658
00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:44.000
We did last year and it continues to improve, because
659
00:38:44.440 --> 00:38:45.920
it really is not going to be good if we
660
00:38:46.039 --> 00:38:46.679
lose our bees.
661
00:38:47.519 --> 00:38:49.119
Yeah. I couldn't agree with you more.
662
00:38:49.320 --> 00:38:52.119
Well, thank you so much for hosting me on your
663
00:38:52.119 --> 00:38:56.880
podcast and just asking some great questions and having a
664
00:38:56.960 --> 00:38:57.679
nice conversation.
665
00:38:58.400 --> 00:38:58.639
Yeah.
666
00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:00.599
I enjoyed it, and I'd like so I'd like to
667
00:39:00.679 --> 00:39:03.679
learn more and I know my listeners do too. And
668
00:39:03.719 --> 00:39:06.960
with that being said, where can listeners kind of go
669
00:39:07.079 --> 00:39:09.239
if they would like to learn more or get involved
670
00:39:09.280 --> 00:39:10.000
with the coalition.
671
00:39:10.880 --> 00:39:14.239
You can go to Honeybeehealthcoalition dot org and you can
672
00:39:14.280 --> 00:39:18.119
see all of the different programs and projects that we
673
00:39:18.159 --> 00:39:18.800
have on there.
674
00:39:19.320 --> 00:39:21.599
If you're an educator, we have.
675
00:39:21.760 --> 00:39:27.320
A curriculum for K through eight on their whole Spreadsheets.
676
00:39:26.679 --> 00:39:29.320
Of Curriculum and Deianca's Educator Corner.
677
00:39:30.559 --> 00:39:33.639
You know, we're a small nonprofit and so you can
678
00:39:33.760 --> 00:39:36.199
you can go to a website and donate. Every little
679
00:39:36.239 --> 00:39:40.960
bit helps and as I said, just you know, spread
680
00:39:40.960 --> 00:39:43.360
the word about buying local honey.
681
00:39:43.039 --> 00:39:47.280
And making sure that you're planting planting.
682
00:39:46.920 --> 00:39:49.360
Flowers and all of that stuff can be found on
683
00:39:49.360 --> 00:39:51.719
our website, Honeybehealthcoalition dot org.
684
00:39:53.159 --> 00:39:55.920
Awesome, Well, hopefully you guys will go and then check
685
00:39:55.920 --> 00:39:59.239
out the website and get some more information and let's
686
00:39:59.239 --> 00:40:00.840
all try to do it we can to help out
687
00:40:00.840 --> 00:40:04.239
the honeybees and keep their populations healthy, because we really
688
00:40:04.239 --> 00:40:06.360
don't want to lose the honeybees. It wouldn't that be
689
00:40:06.400 --> 00:40:10.119
good for our Like I said, agriculture in our ecosystems
690
00:40:10.159 --> 00:40:12.800
and stuff like that. But Matthew again, thank you so
691
00:40:12.880 --> 00:40:15.599
much for being on the podcast tonight. I appreciate it,
692
00:40:15.679 --> 00:40:18.800
and I'm just going to announce my next couple podcasts
693
00:40:18.800 --> 00:40:21.159
coming up. You're welcome to stay on or you're welcome
694
00:40:21.159 --> 00:40:23.079
to jump off. I know you probably have other things
695
00:40:23.079 --> 00:40:26.760
to go do, so.
696
00:40:25.280 --> 00:40:26.920
Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day.
697
00:40:26.960 --> 00:40:32.679
All right, Thanks Matthew, you too. All Right, everybody, So
698
00:40:33.320 --> 00:40:36.920
that was a pretty good, interesting podcast to learn more
699
00:40:36.920 --> 00:40:40.280
about the honey bees and what we can do to
700
00:40:40.320 --> 00:40:45.119
try to help them out. So I'm hoping that you
701
00:40:45.199 --> 00:40:48.599
guys will go and check out the website and get
702
00:40:48.639 --> 00:40:51.880
some more information about honeybees and what we can all
703
00:40:51.920 --> 00:40:54.440
do to try to help these guys out, because you know,
704
00:40:54.719 --> 00:40:58.119
losing sixty percent of our bees last year is probably
705
00:40:58.159 --> 00:41:01.239
not a good thing. Let's do what we can of
706
00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:06.159
get those populations back up. So with that being said,
707
00:41:06.320 --> 00:41:13.440
for my next upcoming podcasts, I am going to have
708
00:41:13.840 --> 00:41:18.000
a Project freedom Ride on June eleventh, and my guests
709
00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:19.920
are going to be Roman and Jennifer mccon.
710
00:41:20.679 --> 00:41:20.760
So.
711
00:41:21.000 --> 00:41:28.239
Roman is an awesome kid. He started this Project freedom
712
00:41:28.320 --> 00:41:31.760
Ride back when he was gosh, I think five, if
713
00:41:31.760 --> 00:41:34.880
I remember correctly. He's thirteen now, so they've been doing
714
00:41:34.920 --> 00:41:37.480
it for the last few years. Anyway, his mom and
715
00:41:37.559 --> 00:41:40.239
dad have helped him out, and so basically they're going
716
00:41:40.360 --> 00:41:45.960
to shelters and they're transporting animals to other places or
717
00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:48.880
to adoptive homes wherever they need to go, whatever's needed
718
00:41:48.880 --> 00:41:52.440
of them, and getting these animals, dogs and stuff out
719
00:41:52.480 --> 00:41:56.599
of the shelters. And they even have fostering as well.
720
00:41:56.760 --> 00:42:02.360
So kudos to Roman and his family for doing such
721
00:42:02.440 --> 00:42:06.000
awesome work and trying to help out the animals, especially
722
00:42:06.039 --> 00:42:08.039
with him starting at such a young age.
723
00:42:08.159 --> 00:42:09.920
It's awesome when you see.
724
00:42:10.199 --> 00:42:13.599
Kids that are driven to do things like this and
725
00:42:13.679 --> 00:42:17.280
try to help and it's encouraging to know that their
726
00:42:17.400 --> 00:42:20.719
kids like that out there, like Roman. I mean, I
727
00:42:20.760 --> 00:42:24.519
know there's quite a few different ones, but and kudos
728
00:42:24.519 --> 00:42:26.119
to any of you guys out there, any of you
729
00:42:26.199 --> 00:42:28.119
kids out there and your families that support you in
730
00:42:28.239 --> 00:42:30.960
doing things like this. But we're going to talk more
731
00:42:31.000 --> 00:42:34.280
with Roman and Jennifer about Project Freedom Right and how
732
00:42:34.280 --> 00:42:37.920
it all got going and what all they're doing and
733
00:42:37.960 --> 00:42:40.880
what projects they're working on, and that'll be June eleventh,
734
00:42:41.760 --> 00:42:46.559
and then after that on June twenty fifth podcast, The
735
00:42:46.920 --> 00:42:50.960
Orca Behavior Files is going to be on and we're
736
00:42:51.000 --> 00:42:54.159
going to be talking about Orca whales. So I am
737
00:42:54.280 --> 00:42:56.960
so looking forward to learning more about the killer whales
738
00:42:57.039 --> 00:43:00.280
and their behaviors and stuff like that and what's going
739
00:43:00.280 --> 00:43:02.239
on with them. And my guest is going to be
740
00:43:03.079 --> 00:43:08.400
Monica Wheeland Shields, and she's an Orca researcher and she
741
00:43:09.320 --> 00:43:12.679
has been studying Orcus for a number of years, and
742
00:43:12.800 --> 00:43:16.039
so she is going to be on the podcast to
743
00:43:16.119 --> 00:43:19.519
talk with me about Orcus and give us all sorts
744
00:43:19.519 --> 00:43:23.840
of great information about them and their behaviors. And I
745
00:43:23.880 --> 00:43:26.760
know we've been seeing probably in the news here lately,
746
00:43:26.880 --> 00:43:32.199
something about Orca's behaviors and that they're going after more
747
00:43:32.280 --> 00:43:35.599
ships and boats and stuff. So that's kind of interesting.
748
00:43:35.719 --> 00:43:38.000
I mean, I'm sure it's scary for the people that's
749
00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:40.360
happening to, but it's also interesting to me that this
750
00:43:40.519 --> 00:43:43.880
is going on because you know, it's something driving them
751
00:43:43.960 --> 00:43:47.280
to do this, is that you know what's going on here?
752
00:43:47.320 --> 00:43:50.320
Would their with their behavior change that they're they're going
753
00:43:50.360 --> 00:43:52.639
after more ships and boats and stuff like that when
754
00:43:52.679 --> 00:43:55.519
they I don't think normally do those kinds of things.
755
00:43:55.559 --> 00:43:58.719
So that's going to be a pretty interesting podcast, and
756
00:43:58.719 --> 00:44:01.159
I'm looking forward to talking to my about Orcas and
757
00:44:01.199 --> 00:44:04.760
their behaviors. So don't forget. I hope you can come
758
00:44:04.800 --> 00:44:08.599
back and join me on Junie leventh for Roman and
759
00:44:08.719 --> 00:44:12.719
Jen and Project freedom Ride and then on the twenty
760
00:44:12.800 --> 00:44:17.400
fifth about the Orcas with Monica and learn more about
761
00:44:17.440 --> 00:44:20.119
those and those guys and their behaviors. So I'm looking
762
00:44:20.159 --> 00:44:22.039
forward to those two podcasts. I think they're going to
763
00:44:22.079 --> 00:44:25.559
be good ones. And with that being said, that's pretty
764
00:44:25.599 --> 00:44:28.360
much the end of the podcast. Today or tonight.
765
00:44:29.639 --> 00:44:30.360
Went just a.
766
00:44:30.239 --> 00:44:32.760
Little bit shorter, but that's okay because some of them
767
00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:35.559
go a little bit longer. But I was glad to
768
00:44:35.599 --> 00:44:38.079
talk with Matthew and get more information out about the
769
00:44:38.119 --> 00:44:41.280
Honeybees and what's going on with them and how we
770
00:44:41.320 --> 00:44:44.119
can help. So I hope you guys enjoyed the podcast.
771
00:44:44.880 --> 00:44:48.239
Stay safe out there, don't get into trouble, and I
772
00:44:48.280 --> 00:44:51.000
hope you all have a great weekend, and don't forget
773
00:44:51.039 --> 00:44:52.639
to come on back in a couple of weeks to
774
00:44:52.880 --> 00:44:55.639
learn more about Project freedom Ride and then after that
775
00:44:55.800 --> 00:44:58.760
about the Orcus. All right, everybody, have a good night,
776
00:44:58.800 --> 00:44:59.760
now bye.
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Welcome to Calling on Creatures everybody. I am your host, Laurie,
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and tonight we are talking about I think it's kind
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of an important topic. It's a topic about honeybees. The
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podcast title is Buzzkill or Breakthrough and the Truth about
5
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Honeybee Health, and tonight I have Matthew Malica on with me.
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He's the senior project director at oh my gosh, now
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I'm blanking, of course, at the Honeybee Health Coalition, and
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he's going to give us all sorts of great information
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about honeybees and what's going on with them and how
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we can maybe help these little guys out because they're
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important to us because they pollinate a lot of our stuff.
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So Matthew, thank you so much for being on the
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podcast tonight.
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Thanks for having me.
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Rory, I'm glad that you're able to come on and
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give out this important information about honeybees because I don't
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think a lot of people understand, you know, that populations
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are kind of declining and we might have quite a
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bit to do with that. So I'm glad we'll get
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to talk about all that stuff.
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Yeah, this is really looking forward to it.
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So what kind of first drew you into the world
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of honeybees and pollinator health. I mean, how'd you get
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started doing all of this stuff?
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Well, so I'm a mediator and I work for an
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organization called the Keystone Policy Center, and we take on
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difficult or intractable issues where you have to use science
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and collaboration and to bring people together and work on
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or manage any given couplemy and so back in twenty thirteen,
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we did an assessment on honeybee health and you know,
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found that, you know, there's a lot of great organizations
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out there doing amazing work, but there wasn't one organization
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that sat.
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At the intersection of agriculture and the health. And you know,
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we really are all ad system. So a lot of
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the bees.
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Are placed throughout aglands and so we have to work
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together if we want to solve this problem.
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And so we convene.
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The initial set of stakeholders in twenty thirteen and launched
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the Honeybeealth Coalition in twenty fourteen.
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And have been going strong ever since.
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Nice.
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So, for listeners that may not be real familiar with
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the Honeybee Health Coalition, how would you describe this coalition
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and planar terms for these guys? So they kind of
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understand who's all making up the coalition and what you
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guys are doing.
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Sure, So the coalition is about fifty.
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Organizations and it is the entire supply chain in agriculture.
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So you have your beekeeping organizations like the American Honey
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Producers Association and the American Beekeeping Federation. You have crop associations,
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you know, soy means and almonds and various fruits and
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vegetables and apples, so that those associations are members. We
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have agribusiness at the table, so you're you're Bayer and Santenta,
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b A, s F, Kurteva and others. We have the
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e p A and the U s p A, federal
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government agencies and r c s. A lot of universities participate,
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and we have a whole research arm and so yeah,
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we have and then and then other.
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N g os. So there's many many other, you.
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Know, nonprofits that work on this. So the idea is,
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let's have one big tent. Let's let's talk about what
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we're doing. And I think we're gonna get into this.
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But one of the the reasons that I think this
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has been successful and so long standing is that we
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recognize that all of the props that are causing the
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health be health decline are interrelated, so pesticides and mites
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and poor nutrition and forage. All of these things we
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have to work.
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On equally and so the coalition.
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But as we do, we bring people together to develop
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projects and programs that can help reverse How.
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Do you be healthy, climb.
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Nice?
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Well, it's good that you guys are all getting together
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to try to figure this out and help out the beach,
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because it sounds like they probably need some help right now.
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So, in your.
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Opinion, what kind of makes your coalition unique compared to
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some of some of the other conservation efforts that go on.
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You know, I think it's the stakeholders involved and the
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fact that you know, you don't often have beekeepers and
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farmers in the same room talking to each other, along
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with chemical companies, the US governments and all of these folks.
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That's just a really unique group of individuals and organizations
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that care deeply about bee health.
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And so, you know, I think what.
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Has kept us together as our ability to have honest,
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frank conversations.
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And decide where are these places that we can have
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a positive impact.
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Right So, before we kind of get into a little
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bit more of the discussion. Can you give the listeners
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just a little bit more information about honeybees, I mean,
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what their lives are, kind of like, you know, kind
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of the things that they actually do, and I know,
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you know, like many bees, they probably have like the
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queen and then the workers and stuff like that. So
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can you just give us a little more general information
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about honeybees.
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Yeah, So there are four thousand.
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Species of native or wild bees in North America. These
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are the bees, the bumble bees, and the basin bees,
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and you know, the blue desert bees they fly around
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your backyard. And then you have managed honeybees, which is
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APIs malifera. These are European honeybees, so they're you know,
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they're I like to say they've been naturalized at this point.
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I mean, they've been here for five hundred years. And
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so these bees, the honey bees, are really the the
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workers of our food supply system.
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So one in three bites of our food.
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Require a bee keeper with an eighteen wheeler to pull
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up when the when the crop is blooming and and
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pollinate that crop.
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And so you have in your hive, you know, anywhere.
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From seventy thousand to one hundred and twenty thousand bees.
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Generally the bees are all female.
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There's a few drones. The drones are the males, and
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they don't they can't sting.
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And they will mate with the queen, and a queen
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will only be made with once.
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For her whole life.
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And the most of the workers are females. They attend
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to the queen, they forage, they have all kinds of
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different jobs. And so, you know, we have these these
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bees in the hide.
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They will, you know, generally.
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Keep on proliferating like eggs throughout the season. They you know,
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often will overwinter and and go dormant when it's cold out.
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And a queen will live, you know, anywhere from one
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to three years. So trying to think, you know that
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these are incredibly interesting social creatures.
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So the the actual being or like the living being
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is the hive. So a single.
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Honey bee is not it is well, it is an organism.
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It cannot live on the zone it had they had.
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The colony is really the organism, and so just just
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fascinating creatures that that we really rely on. So that's
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kind of a long and widening answer, but it's good
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to differentiate between your honey bees and native bees, and
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understand that the honey bees are the ones that beekeepers
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keep and that and that pollinate our food.
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Now, is there any way to kind of tell the
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difference between say a honey bee and another bee that's
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not a honey bee.
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Yeah, honey bees are very distinct looking. One thing I
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can say, like a good way to tell a honey
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bee or a native bee from say a hornet or
150
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a wasp, is that honey bees and native bees kind
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of look very soft and kind of friendly when you
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look at the them closely, whereas a hornet or a
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wasp had really spiky hair on.
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Them, and they kind of look just a little bit sharper.
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And so you know, that's one distinction. And then of
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course all bees look very different.
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You know, a honey bee looks very different than a
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bubble bee, and with four thousand species, they all kind
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of look a little different.
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Okay, I was just gonna say, because obviously, I know
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bumble bees are kind of I think fatter you make say,
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fluffy or stuff like that. But yeah, so okay, interesting.
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So we do often hear that bees are essential, but
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what does that kind of really mean for people in
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their everyday life?
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Well, imagine walking into your grocery store and a third
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of the and vegetables are god. So that's that's the
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impact these make. So they support eighteen billion.
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Dollars in agriculture a year or so.
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All your cucumbers and your melons, your peppers, your almonds, apples, pears, watermelons,
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all of these shirts and vegetables require pollination services.
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You know, with.
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Three hundred and thirty million people in this country, we
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really can't rely just on the native.
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Bees to pollinate all the food that we eat.
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It's a very organized system and so incredibly important to
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agriculture is having these bees available and healthy to be
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able to pollinate the crops that we eat.
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Okay, okay, So I mean it sounds to me like
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if we were kind of looking at the broader picture
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of what our agriculture and food systems would look like
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without all of these healthy honey bees doing what they're doing,
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we would be looking at almost nothing when it comes
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to crops and things like that and our food.
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From what you're saying, yeah, yeah, I mean your your
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row crop agriculture, corn.
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Story, beans, wheat, they don't they don't need bees.
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These you know, can't forage on those crops, but the
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very the specialty crops.
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That that that heavily rely on on bees.
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Okay, okay, so well and probably as well. I mean,
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we're not just looking at like our food crops and
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stuff like that either, are we. We would be also
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talking about don't they help pollinate for like the you know,
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our flowers and things and stuff like that too.
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Sure, Yeah, ornamental flowers, sunflowers, Yeah, and especially you know,
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native bees and certain flower species evolve together, and so
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a lot of bees are only found in areas with
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certain flowers because they've been paired up to the evolution.
200
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And and yes, certainly.
201
00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:21.240
All of bees love the flowers in your back in
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your backyard.
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And yes, certainly important flowers as well.
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So they kind of fit into that the broader pollinator
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world alongside your native bees and some of the other species.
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Because it sounds like the honey bees do a little
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bit more for like maybe the agricultural side and stuff
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and the flowers, like you just said, But then you
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have your native species that are kind of endemic, and
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they they kind of help take care of, you know,
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their little area of pollination and stuff.
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Yeah, it's all really, it's a very it's a it's
213
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a very pretty complicated system, but I think they're all
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very important in their own ways.
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So what would you say are the primary that's threats
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to honeybee health nowadays?
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Well, the simplest way to put it, and it's mostly accurate, is.
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That you know, there's three main causes of the health decline.
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And so you have a lack of good forage and nutrition.
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So we have two and a half million hives, and
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the bee keepers don't own enough land to place all
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of their hives. They have to rely on agricultural lands,
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and so when they're out there, there has to be
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enough flowers for them to forage on. And so when
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there's not and you have a lack of good forge
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and nutrition, when they're out on the landscape, they're often
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inadvertently impacted by pesticides, and so those two factors are
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weakening factors. So not enough forward to nutrition, impact from
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pesticides weakened the these And then there's a mite called
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the verroamite that can that is ubiquitous. It's it's all
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across the country, and that might.
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Transmits diseases to the hives.
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And if it wasn't for you know, lack of good
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forge nutrition, and negative impacts from pesticides. Maybe the bees
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could better fight off those diseases, but it really comes
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together as a perfect storm of those factors, and that
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that's what really kills the.
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Bees, all three of those things.
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Okay, Okay, So it sounds like the verroamites are a
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big danger. But again, like you said, it all has
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it's all kind of put together with the different things,
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the nutrition and then these mites and and stuff like that. No,
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I'm sorry, why are the mites uh so destructive?
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Again? They're the ones that bring the disease into the best.
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Yeah, the the vera mike.
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Evolved alongside a different species of bee called APIs versada
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in Southeast Asia, and when it was introduced in the
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late eighties into the into North America and it found
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the honeybee host. The honey bees didn't have an effective
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way to combat those mites, and so that's why it's
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so destructive. And then they transmit disease, which which killed
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the best.
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Okay, okay. And a question that just kind of pops
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into my mind when we're talking about different species of
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bees and stuff, like we're you know, we've been having
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a problem now for probably I don't know how many years,
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but we have the Africanized bees that are comeing in
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as well. So how big of a danger are they
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to the honey bees? I mean are they? Are they
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killing helping to kill some of the honey bees? Do
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they intermingle with the honey bees and produce a more
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of a hybrid type of bee.
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What's going on with that?
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Yeah, so killer bees, that's just a genetic trait of
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honey bees.
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So killer bees.
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Are honey bees, but they're just very aggressive and so
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you get them traveling up from Mexico and Texas really
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warm climates, and so they are just very hard to manage.
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So you wouldn't want really a killer bee.
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Genetics to intermingle with your other honey bees that you're
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using for pollination, because eventually all of the bees would
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get very aggressive and impossible to.
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Manage because as soon as you go near a hive,
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they would.
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Attack you right right, And that's not good if you
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can't get near the hive. Yeah, because I'm sure the
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beekeepers like to go and harvest the honey that the
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honey bees make.
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So yeah, that's speaking.
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Yeah, incredibly important that we not have you know.
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Too many Africanized bees, and then we keep our genetic
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stocks right.
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Speaking of harvesting honey and stuff, how much honey does
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a honey bee hive produce normally?
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I think it really depends.
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I think I've for thirty to seventy pounds per colony.
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But it's just it's very variable.
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That can be a lot of honey when you stop
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and think about it. I mean, especially when these beekeepers
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have you know, a lot of them have more than
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one hive. So yeah, that's quite a bit of honey
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that's getting harvested when you stop and think about it
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to go into our foods and just I mean for
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honey for people that like to eat honey and their stuff.
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So yeah, so it's you know, you have.
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This huge industry of backyard beekeeping and those people might
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have you know, one to I don't know eight hives,
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and so eighty percent of the beekeepers are backyard beekeepers,
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and those backyard beekeepers are have about twenty percent of
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the hives. The commercial beekeepers, who might have one thousand
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and ten tho twenty thousand hives, they make up about
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twenty percent of the bees of the bees beekeepers and
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they manage eighty.
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Percent of the bees in the country. So your big
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honey producers, you know, they are producing tons of honey.
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Wow.
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Now, typically when you have like all of these hives
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and stuff, do the beekeepers I mean obviously out in
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the wild or maybe even with the backyard beekeepers, I
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don't know, do the honey bees make their own hives
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or are what are the hives that they are given
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like for especially for the big commercial like ones. What
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are these hives typically, like, I mean, are they made
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out of a certain material for the honey bees or
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what are they?
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Yeah, it's called Langstroff hives, and they are made of wood,
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and they have when the bees are already there's there's
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broot chambers where the the bee the queen lays eggs
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in cells and those are the bees that are almost
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constantly hatching. And then on top of that is you know,
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there's a what's called a queen excluder, so the queen
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can't get up into the higher boxes and so she
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doesn't lay eggs in the higher boxes and those are
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called honey scoopers.
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And so when the honey flow.
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Is on, when the when all the flowers are, when
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all the plants are flowering, the honey bees will store
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the honey in the cells in the top boxes, and
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as they fill them up, the beekeepers will put more
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and more honeycoopers on top of those boxes.
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So that's why you see sometimes you know.
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One, two, three, four boxes on top of each other.
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And that's as the colony is growing and producing more honey,
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they have places to grow into and then.
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Places to store honey.
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Okay, and normally the queen, now obviously she lays the
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eggs and stuff. What all does she actually do in
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the hive? I mean, is she kind of like obviously
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she's the queen, Is she kind of in charge? Does
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she director workers in a certain way or how does
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that work with her?
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All she does is lay eggs until she does lay eggs.
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Yep, she'll she'll go out once to make a mating flight,
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and and of course she can't mate with her own offspring.
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Her own drones, and so she flies out and and there's, uh.
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There's a mating that goes on in the air with
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with neighboring honeybee colonies. And interestingly, after the male drone
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mates with the queen, he explodes or he pops, it
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dies and and then she goes back she's been inseminated
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or she's she has has the semens for the rest
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of her life from multiple drones, and then her work for.
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The rest of her life is to lay eggs.
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Wow, And how long has the queen bee usually lived?
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You know, anywhere from one to three years?
356
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Okay, so that like days or anything. So, so it's
357
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it's a longer life span than what some other insects have.
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So so then the drones and stuff, is it just
359
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kind of inherent in them what they're supposed to do
360
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as the drones, I mean to go out and pollinate
361
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and and do the honey and stuff like that.
362
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The drones just just inseminate the queen And then you know,
363
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that's maybe five.
364
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Percent of the bees or even less.
365
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And then nine percent of the bees are the workers,
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the females, and they have many jobs from tending to
367
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the queen, to foraging, to cleaning out the hive of
368
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of dead bees, kicking out the drones before winter, they'll
369
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actually shoot them out out of the out.
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Of the hive, so only the females over winter. And
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you know, really the the last job.
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Of a worker bee is to forage and they basically
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forage until you.
374
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Know, they they die.
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So they had the last job is to forage until
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basically you know, they can't they can't make it back
377
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to the high anymore.
378
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Okay, so the poor drones they just kind of get
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the short end of the stick all the way around.
380
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Well the drone. Yeah, the drones they have one job,
381
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and then that the workers have another, and the queen
382
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is another, right right.
383
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That's amazing that that the male pops after the meeting.
384
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I mean, you know, you hear about you know, things
385
00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:35.759
like you know, the pring mantis eats the you know,
386
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the mail and you know, and then and the black
387
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wettals and stuff like that. So it's interesting with some
388
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of these. I learned so many new things when I
389
00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:45.279
do this podcast about all these different insects and animals.
390
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It's amazing.
391
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Is amazing.
392
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There's ants that blow up too. I was I did
393
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a podcast about ants. I found out about that they
394
00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:56.480
have e mt ants, they have ants that will blow up,
395
00:23:56.480 --> 00:23:58.279
they have all sorts of stuff that go on with ants.
396
00:23:58.279 --> 00:23:58.920
I was amazed.
397
00:24:00.599 --> 00:24:04.440
Yeah, growing up with such a favor part of nature.
398
00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:10.559
Yeah, you know, so, and we've been talking about, you know,
399
00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:14.079
several different things that kind of all factor into a
400
00:24:14.119 --> 00:24:19.160
lot of the honey bee help. So like pesticides, habitat loss,
401
00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:23.519
and nutrition, those all kind of interact together to put
402
00:24:23.559 --> 00:24:26.079
their health in jeopardy. I mean, it's not just one
403
00:24:26.119 --> 00:24:28.519
thing alone, it's all of these things together.
404
00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:32.160
It is, Yeah, and that's that's really what they figured
405
00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:35.200
out was called a collapse facility with the you know,
406
00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:37.720
they didn't really know and so we really don't use.
407
00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:39.920
That term anymore because you have a good idea of
408
00:24:39.960 --> 00:24:42.599
why these are dying and it's really all of these
409
00:24:42.599 --> 00:24:43.240
things together.
410
00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:46.759
So do you think things are getting any better or
411
00:24:46.839 --> 00:24:49.359
are they getting worse? Or are they just more complicated
412
00:24:49.400 --> 00:24:50.319
than they were before?
413
00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:55.559
Well, last year's sixty two percent of all the bees sides, Oh,
414
00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:56.839
that was the that was.
415
00:24:56.799 --> 00:25:01.440
The worst it's ever bet it's I would say that
416
00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:06.000
that things are not getting better. And so you have
417
00:25:06.039 --> 00:25:08.880
a lot of people working on this and it was
418
00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:13.599
just kind of a perfect storm last year where they
419
00:25:13.720 --> 00:25:17.000
just just didn't make it in large numbers.
420
00:25:18.279 --> 00:25:21.640
So are we doing anything to at least to kind
421
00:25:21.640 --> 00:25:24.119
of help out with the pesticides and stuff that we
422
00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:27.079
have out there? Are we trying to figure out what
423
00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:30.440
we can do if we have to use a pesticide.
424
00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:31.759
What might not harm the bees as much?
425
00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:35.799
Or are we trying to find an answer to using
426
00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:39.720
something other than pesticides to like say, maybe kill off
427
00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:44.240
the insects that we don't want eating our plants.
428
00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:49.359
Yeah, you know, past with as many people in our
429
00:25:49.359 --> 00:25:52.519
country as we have and the agricultural systems that we
430
00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:56.680
have in place, you know, pesticides are a part of
431
00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:03.240
our agricultural system. The new and nicketsinoids that that farmers
432
00:26:03.359 --> 00:26:07.880
use now are a lot better than the pyreethroids and
433
00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:12.079
organo phosphates that we used in the fifties and sixties.
434
00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:15.839
That we're actually giving farmer's cancer. There are.
435
00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:22.759
Bio chemical biopesticides, they're being developed, and really it comes down.
436
00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:26.240
To making sure that farmers.
437
00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:29.039
Are following the label that that they're they're they're not
438
00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:32.920
applying the chemicals in the heat of the day when
439
00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:38.240
when bees are flying, that they're providing fresh water sources
440
00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:44.920
that are clean of pesticides, and that they're you know,
441
00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:48.119
especially when they're planting, that they're using like.
442
00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:53.200
Fluency agents on the seeds that they don't rub against
443
00:26:53.200 --> 00:26:56.640
each other and cause dust, that the harms of the bees.
444
00:26:58.039 --> 00:27:00.920
And so yeah, there's there's a lot of a lot
445
00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:03.319
of work being done on.
446
00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:06.279
All different aspects of pesticides and beehealth.
447
00:27:09.079 --> 00:27:11.119
So right now, could you tell us what some of
448
00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:14.519
the most impactful initiatives are that the coalition's currently working in.
449
00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:18.839
Sure So, we are.
450
00:27:20.680 --> 00:27:28.400
Developing or have developed best management practices b MPs for corn, canola.
451
00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:32.359
Soybeans, and apples. We have a.
452
00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:39.200
Uh an educational module for pesticide applicators for how they
453
00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:43.880
can do their jobs and protect bees. We have research
454
00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:47.839
projects on finding the next varoa side and so you
455
00:27:47.960 --> 00:27:53.440
have these you know, compounds that beekeepers put into their
456
00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:57.759
hives that kill the mites but don't kill the bees,
457
00:27:58.160 --> 00:27:59.880
and so you can imagine it's a it's a it's
458
00:27:59.880 --> 00:28:02.759
a difficult thing to kill a little buck on a
459
00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:05.720
big buck without killing the big buck.
460
00:28:06.200 --> 00:28:10.400
And so we're trying to find new ways of doing that.
461
00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:15.440
We are working with the federal government to improve federal
462
00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:20.079
conservation programs so that we can get more flowers out
463
00:28:20.119 --> 00:28:25.799
of the landscape, especially in and around ag lands. And
464
00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:28.960
we're generally just a conduit for people to talk with
465
00:28:29.079 --> 00:28:33.880
so much research and projects and programs out there. This
466
00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:38.000
is a base and environment for everyone to know what's
467
00:28:38.039 --> 00:28:40.359
going on and to figure out ways to work together.
468
00:28:42.200 --> 00:28:42.599
Awesome.
469
00:28:42.680 --> 00:28:44.599
Well, I'm glad that you know you're working with the
470
00:28:44.599 --> 00:28:47.799
federal government and stuff like that to you know, help
471
00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.759
get this stuff taken care of and try to figure
472
00:28:50.759 --> 00:28:53.519
out some answers. And it kind of sounds like I mean,
473
00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:57.599
it sounds like science and research's playing a pretty big
474
00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:00.559
role in some of your strategies that you guys are
475
00:29:00.599 --> 00:29:01.200
coming up with.
476
00:29:02.079 --> 00:29:06.559
Yeah, it's incredibly important. You know, if these were cows,
477
00:29:06.839 --> 00:29:08.119
we wouldn't have as much of.
478
00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:10.559
These many issues because you didn't know.
479
00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:12.799
So much about cows, for example.
480
00:29:13.839 --> 00:29:19.839
So the bees are really something that were understanding better.
481
00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:24.599
And also how to control the impacts of these mites,
482
00:29:24.920 --> 00:29:26.079
the diseases.
483
00:29:25.640 --> 00:29:30.039
Affector, pesticides and all of.
484
00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:32.200
The ways that we can improve the health and research
485
00:29:32.279 --> 00:29:34.839
and bring people together and collaboration are.
486
00:29:34.759 --> 00:29:36.160
Huge, right.
487
00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:38.480
Well, yeah, it's always a big thing when you have
488
00:29:38.519 --> 00:29:40.119
to bring a bunch of people together to try to
489
00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:43.160
figure things out. Do you happen to have an example
490
00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:45.960
you could share where this collaboration between the farmer's bee
491
00:29:46.119 --> 00:29:49.000
keepers and stuff has made an actual difference that you've
492
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:49.599
seen so far.
493
00:29:51.079 --> 00:29:54.279
Well, it's hard to pinpoint any one action, because it's
494
00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:55.759
a it's a huge system.
495
00:29:55.880 --> 00:29:57.960
So the United States is a massive country.
496
00:29:57.960 --> 00:30:01.440
We have you know, many many people that here, and
497
00:30:01.480 --> 00:30:06.680
there's countless efforts going on to improve the health, to
498
00:30:06.759 --> 00:30:13.279
plant flowers and protect the bees from pesticides. And you know,
499
00:30:13.799 --> 00:30:16.680
sixty percent of the bees dies died last year, and
500
00:30:16.759 --> 00:30:22.119
so it's you know, despite our best efforts, there's still.
501
00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:22.839
A lot of work for done.
502
00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:26.200
Yeah, it sounds like, I mean, that's too bad that
503
00:30:26.279 --> 00:30:28.960
I mean that so many bees died last year. I
504
00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:31.160
knew I had heard, you know, there was a bunch
505
00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:33.319
of alarms and stuff that were being kind of raised
506
00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:37.799
over the amount of bees that had died last year
507
00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:40.079
and stuff. And that's what kind of you know, brought
508
00:30:40.119 --> 00:30:42.759
all of this to the forefront. I think Moore is
509
00:30:42.759 --> 00:30:46.359
is hearing about how many died in unders trying to
510
00:30:46.440 --> 00:30:49.440
understand what an impact that's going to make on our
511
00:30:49.559 --> 00:30:52.160
environment and our agriculture.
512
00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:54.720
Yeah, it's very, very alarming.
513
00:30:55.039 --> 00:31:00.799
So the Health Coalition can mean the Domestic Lockings Hearing Committee,
514
00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:02.680
So that was the US.
515
00:31:02.359 --> 00:31:06.720
Government and all of the beekeeping organizations and other abarea.
516
00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:07.359
Spectis of America.
517
00:31:08.119 --> 00:31:11.880
There's a great organization called Project Apism that does research
518
00:31:12.359 --> 00:31:16.640
and funds research, and so we brought everyone together and
519
00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:23.680
acted as the you know, response team to the country.
520
00:31:24.759 --> 00:31:28.240
So for like say, average people like myself and other
521
00:31:28.319 --> 00:31:31.359
listeners and stuff that are out there, what would you say,
522
00:31:31.400 --> 00:31:34.480
are some simple, meaningful ways that we could help support
523
00:31:34.599 --> 00:31:37.759
bee help to try to help you guys with what
524
00:31:37.799 --> 00:31:38.279
you're doing.
525
00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:42.319
Sure, So I think the number one thing is to
526
00:31:42.319 --> 00:31:43.279
buy local honey.
527
00:31:44.680 --> 00:31:50.920
It's got so many benefits for people and reducing allergies,
528
00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:53.440
and it just supports your local beekeeper.
529
00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:55.200
And so buy local honey.
530
00:31:55.720 --> 00:32:00.000
Plant flowers, you know, native these honey.
531
00:32:00.039 --> 00:32:02.279
They require pond and.
532
00:32:02.359 --> 00:32:04.759
Nectar and the only way to get pollen nectar is
533
00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:08.880
through flowers. So planting flowers in your backyards on land
534
00:32:08.920 --> 00:32:11.279
that you own is very important.
535
00:32:12.079 --> 00:32:14.079
And finally, if you do.
536
00:32:13.960 --> 00:32:19.920
Apply pesticides in your landscaping, follow the label. It's most
537
00:32:19.960 --> 00:32:24.599
people don't ever peel off the back of that landscaping
538
00:32:25.160 --> 00:32:28.079
you know pesticide if they use one, But if you do,
539
00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:30.480
you have to make sure that you're following the label.
540
00:32:31.880 --> 00:32:34.039
You can also provide.
541
00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:38.720
You know, clean water sources for me, but I think
542
00:32:38.799 --> 00:32:41.720
I think those are generally the top four things I
543
00:32:41.720 --> 00:32:45.839
would say is buy local honey plant flowers, follow the
544
00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:49.519
label on your landscaping pesticides, and maybe have a little
545
00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:52.799
water source for them.
546
00:32:52.839 --> 00:32:57.359
Are there any specific plants or other practices that you
547
00:32:57.440 --> 00:33:00.000
might recommend for creating a pollinator friendly space?
548
00:33:00.279 --> 00:33:04.480
I meant sometimes where you live, you want to have
549
00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:06.240
you know, native flowers are great.
550
00:33:07.400 --> 00:33:08.559
You want to make sure.
551
00:33:08.359 --> 00:33:11.680
That the plants that you're planting are appropriate to your
552
00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:12.880
elevation and climate.
553
00:33:14.519 --> 00:33:18.240
And there's a number of you know, seed calculators.
554
00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:21.000
If you go to pollinator dot org, which is the
555
00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:27.480
Pollinator Partnership's website, you can find a seed calculator, a
556
00:33:27.519 --> 00:33:28.720
designed mixer.
557
00:33:29.559 --> 00:33:32.039
Okay, Okay, that's interesting.
558
00:33:32.039 --> 00:33:34.319
I know because here in Arizona, I know there's certain
559
00:33:34.359 --> 00:33:37.359
plants here that we have that are be friendly and
560
00:33:37.400 --> 00:33:39.279
a little tract the bees and stuff like that.
561
00:33:39.480 --> 00:33:45.119
So yeah, you know, if you're if you're buying pollinator
562
00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:51.160
plants from garden centers, you might ask if if they've
563
00:33:51.160 --> 00:33:54.599
been treated with new nickeotinoids, probably better if they're not.
564
00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:58.759
Okay, well, that's always good to know. So if anybody
565
00:33:58.759 --> 00:34:00.759
out there is getting plants like that, hey, that's what's
566
00:34:00.759 --> 00:34:03.400
something you need to check on. That's something that probably
567
00:34:03.400 --> 00:34:06.319
a lot of people don't realize that, you know, they
568
00:34:06.359 --> 00:34:08.119
need to check and see what may have been used
569
00:34:08.159 --> 00:34:09.840
on those plants when they get them.
570
00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:11.480
Yep, exactly.
571
00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:15.679
So can you tell us a little bit more about
572
00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:18.320
I mean obviously buying you know, local honey and stuff
573
00:34:18.360 --> 00:34:20.840
like that, but how can consumers kind of make more
574
00:34:20.840 --> 00:34:24.440
informed choices that can help support the pollinators?
575
00:34:25.800 --> 00:34:27.760
You know, I think it's it's really just buying that
576
00:34:27.800 --> 00:34:31.360
local honey and making sure that it is honey. There's
577
00:34:31.400 --> 00:34:34.079
so much you know, if you're in the grocery store
578
00:34:34.119 --> 00:34:39.079
and you see honey that's you know.
579
00:34:39.239 --> 00:34:42.360
A dollar ninety nine, you might read that you might.
580
00:34:42.280 --> 00:34:45.679
Check the label and and look at the ingredients list
581
00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:46.840
to make sure.
582
00:34:46.639 --> 00:34:50.639
That it's that it's uh doesn't say like honey product.
583
00:34:51.320 --> 00:34:54.599
It'll often say things that are a little bit suspicious
584
00:34:55.320 --> 00:35:00.880
instead of just saying ingredients honey. Well, and you know,
585
00:35:00.920 --> 00:35:04.400
the real honey is probably going to be five nine,
586
00:35:04.840 --> 00:35:07.679
seven ninety nine and not a dollar ninety nine.
587
00:35:07.719 --> 00:35:10.840
But that's that's your indication of what you're buying is
588
00:35:11.159 --> 00:35:15.320
is you know, don't just buy the cheapest stuff that's probably.
589
00:35:14.920 --> 00:35:20.079
Not honey, so it's from a consumer standpoint. I think
590
00:35:20.079 --> 00:35:20.880
that's the biggest thing.
591
00:35:22.679 --> 00:35:24.840
Well, that's good information because probably a lot of people
592
00:35:24.920 --> 00:35:27.039
don't really think that, you know, they're just thinking if
593
00:35:27.079 --> 00:35:29.159
it says it's honey, it's honey, then they don't really
594
00:35:29.159 --> 00:35:30.400
look at those ingredients.
595
00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:32.519
So that's that's a good thing.
596
00:35:32.519 --> 00:35:34.760
And yeah, I mean I would, I would kind of
597
00:35:34.800 --> 00:35:37.960
expect if you're getting the real honey, that's just honey,
598
00:35:38.039 --> 00:35:39.639
that it probably is going to be a little more
599
00:35:39.639 --> 00:35:42.280
expensive than this other stuff that has all these ingredients
600
00:35:42.360 --> 00:35:42.800
thrown in.
601
00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:49.119
Yeah, a lot of times, you know, especially foreign imports,
602
00:35:49.480 --> 00:35:53.239
will take honey and they'll blend it with hype of
603
00:35:53.320 --> 00:35:56.840
Jose corn syrup for example, and so you know, it.
604
00:35:56.760 --> 00:35:59.960
Tastes like honey and it passes the inspection when they're
605
00:36:00.119 --> 00:36:04.039
get at the port and there bringing it in, but.
606
00:36:04.119 --> 00:36:05.079
It's not honey.
607
00:36:05.239 --> 00:36:08.960
It's it's maybe you know, half honey or a third honey,
608
00:36:08.960 --> 00:36:11.800
and the rest is hyper does corns there up another.
609
00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:15.760
Sweeteners right right, So, and honey is much better for
610
00:36:15.800 --> 00:36:17.559
you if it's just regular honey than it is if
611
00:36:17.559 --> 00:36:19.880
it has a bunch of sweeteners stuff put in it.
612
00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:21.400
So and and.
613
00:36:21.320 --> 00:36:23.159
Like you said, there's all sorts of uses you can
614
00:36:23.239 --> 00:36:25.719
use honey for that I'm just reading online. I'm just
615
00:36:25.800 --> 00:36:27.920
others some other uses and stuff that you can.
616
00:36:27.840 --> 00:36:31.039
Use it for. So comes in handy for a lot
617
00:36:31.039 --> 00:36:31.440
of things.
618
00:36:32.079 --> 00:36:35.559
Yeah, it's a delicious product. Nature's nature's sweetener.
619
00:36:35.880 --> 00:36:36.719
Yep, exactly.
620
00:36:38.280 --> 00:36:41.360
So what kind of gives you some hope about the
621
00:36:41.360 --> 00:36:42.440
future of honeybees?
622
00:36:44.559 --> 00:36:48.719
You know, I think that the the the people we
623
00:36:48.840 --> 00:36:52.559
call them, the people, the people, the people.
624
00:36:52.280 --> 00:36:56.679
That work on BeHealth is an incredible.
625
00:36:56.119 --> 00:37:02.039
Community of of you know, researchers and scientists and you know,
626
00:37:02.119 --> 00:37:06.239
all these NGOs and and the federal government. They are
627
00:37:06.280 --> 00:37:09.400
all working really really hard on all of these issues
628
00:37:09.840 --> 00:37:14.079
and really leading no stone unturned on how do you
629
00:37:14.119 --> 00:37:15.519
solve this problem?
630
00:37:15.840 --> 00:37:18.119
And so that's the one thing that you know, if
631
00:37:18.159 --> 00:37:19.440
I get pinpoint one.
632
00:37:19.320 --> 00:37:25.119
Thing, it's it's all of the incredible students and postdocs
633
00:37:25.440 --> 00:37:29.599
and up and coming researchers that are.
634
00:37:29.440 --> 00:37:30.760
Just doing incredible things.
635
00:37:31.079 --> 00:37:36.360
There's new modeling and people are even bringing in AI
636
00:37:36.920 --> 00:37:39.840
too to help solve some of these problems and understand
637
00:37:40.199 --> 00:37:40.639
all of.
638
00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:42.760
These systems that are interacting.
639
00:37:42.880 --> 00:37:46.800
It's incredibly complicated, and that all of these things, the people,
640
00:37:47.440 --> 00:37:52.480
the technology, it's all you know, hopefully leading to us
641
00:37:52.679 --> 00:37:56.079
better figuring out how to to solve this crisis and
642
00:37:56.119 --> 00:37:57.079
to improve BeHealth.
643
00:37:58.039 --> 00:38:00.239
Well hopefully, I mean a lot of people are turn
644
00:38:00.280 --> 00:38:03.000
into AI for a lot of different things, so hopefully
645
00:38:03.480 --> 00:38:06.599
it'll help you guys out with what you're trying to
646
00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:08.800
do there at the coalition and figure out some of
647
00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:11.639
this stuff for the bees and maybe even help you
648
00:38:11.679 --> 00:38:13.800
to kill those little mites on the bees.
649
00:38:14.920 --> 00:38:15.760
Yeah, exactly.
650
00:38:17.480 --> 00:38:20.440
Well, Matthew, we're kind of getting to the end of
651
00:38:20.599 --> 00:38:23.960
our discussion here. I mean, you've given us a whole
652
00:38:23.960 --> 00:38:25.920
lot of stuff to think about and a whole lot
653
00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:30.400
of information, and hopefully people out there will take a
654
00:38:30.440 --> 00:38:33.400
lot of this to heart and do what they can
655
00:38:33.519 --> 00:38:36.039
to try to help out, you know, and bring this
656
00:38:36.159 --> 00:38:38.800
bee health back up, and hopefully.
657
00:38:38.400 --> 00:38:39.920
We don't use as many bees as.
658
00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:44.000
We did last year and it continues to improve, because
659
00:38:44.440 --> 00:38:45.920
it really is not going to be good if we
660
00:38:46.039 --> 00:38:46.679
lose our bees.
661
00:38:47.519 --> 00:38:49.119
Yeah. I couldn't agree with you more.
662
00:38:49.320 --> 00:38:52.119
Well, thank you so much for hosting me on your
663
00:38:52.119 --> 00:38:56.880
podcast and just asking some great questions and having a
664
00:38:56.960 --> 00:38:57.679
nice conversation.
665
00:38:58.400 --> 00:38:58.639
Yeah.
666
00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:00.599
I enjoyed it, and I'd like so I'd like to
667
00:39:00.679 --> 00:39:03.679
learn more and I know my listeners do too. And
668
00:39:03.719 --> 00:39:06.960
with that being said, where can listeners kind of go
669
00:39:07.079 --> 00:39:09.239
if they would like to learn more or get involved
670
00:39:09.280 --> 00:39:10.000
with the coalition.
671
00:39:10.880 --> 00:39:14.239
You can go to Honeybeehealthcoalition dot org and you can
672
00:39:14.280 --> 00:39:18.119
see all of the different programs and projects that we
673
00:39:18.159 --> 00:39:18.800
have on there.
674
00:39:19.320 --> 00:39:21.599
If you're an educator, we have.
675
00:39:21.760 --> 00:39:27.320
A curriculum for K through eight on their whole Spreadsheets.
676
00:39:26.679 --> 00:39:29.320
Of Curriculum and Deianca's Educator Corner.
677
00:39:30.559 --> 00:39:33.639
You know, we're a small nonprofit and so you can
678
00:39:33.760 --> 00:39:36.199
you can go to a website and donate. Every little
679
00:39:36.239 --> 00:39:40.960
bit helps and as I said, just you know, spread
680
00:39:40.960 --> 00:39:43.360
the word about buying local honey.
681
00:39:43.039 --> 00:39:47.280
And making sure that you're planting planting.
682
00:39:46.920 --> 00:39:49.360
Flowers and all of that stuff can be found on
683
00:39:49.360 --> 00:39:51.719
our website, Honeybehealthcoalition dot org.
684
00:39:53.159 --> 00:39:55.920
Awesome, Well, hopefully you guys will go and then check
685
00:39:55.920 --> 00:39:59.239
out the website and get some more information and let's
686
00:39:59.239 --> 00:40:00.840
all try to do it we can to help out
687
00:40:00.840 --> 00:40:04.239
the honeybees and keep their populations healthy, because we really
688
00:40:04.239 --> 00:40:06.360
don't want to lose the honeybees. It wouldn't that be
689
00:40:06.400 --> 00:40:10.119
good for our Like I said, agriculture in our ecosystems
690
00:40:10.159 --> 00:40:12.800
and stuff like that. But Matthew again, thank you so
691
00:40:12.880 --> 00:40:15.599
much for being on the podcast tonight. I appreciate it,
692
00:40:15.679 --> 00:40:18.800
and I'm just going to announce my next couple podcasts
693
00:40:18.800 --> 00:40:21.159
coming up. You're welcome to stay on or you're welcome
694
00:40:21.159 --> 00:40:23.079
to jump off. I know you probably have other things
695
00:40:23.079 --> 00:40:26.760
to go do, so.
696
00:40:25.280 --> 00:40:26.920
Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day.
697
00:40:26.960 --> 00:40:32.679
All right, Thanks Matthew, you too. All Right, everybody, So
698
00:40:33.320 --> 00:40:36.920
that was a pretty good, interesting podcast to learn more
699
00:40:36.920 --> 00:40:40.280
about the honey bees and what we can do to
700
00:40:40.320 --> 00:40:45.119
try to help them out. So I'm hoping that you
701
00:40:45.199 --> 00:40:48.599
guys will go and check out the website and get
702
00:40:48.639 --> 00:40:51.880
some more information about honeybees and what we can all
703
00:40:51.920 --> 00:40:54.440
do to try to help these guys out, because you know,
704
00:40:54.719 --> 00:40:58.119
losing sixty percent of our bees last year is probably
705
00:40:58.159 --> 00:41:01.239
not a good thing. Let's do what we can of
706
00:41:01.280 --> 00:41:06.159
get those populations back up. So with that being said,
707
00:41:06.320 --> 00:41:13.440
for my next upcoming podcasts, I am going to have
708
00:41:13.840 --> 00:41:18.000
a Project freedom Ride on June eleventh, and my guests
709
00:41:18.000 --> 00:41:19.920
are going to be Roman and Jennifer mccon.
710
00:41:20.679 --> 00:41:20.760
So.
711
00:41:21.000 --> 00:41:28.239
Roman is an awesome kid. He started this Project freedom
712
00:41:28.320 --> 00:41:31.760
Ride back when he was gosh, I think five, if
713
00:41:31.760 --> 00:41:34.880
I remember correctly. He's thirteen now, so they've been doing
714
00:41:34.920 --> 00:41:37.480
it for the last few years. Anyway, his mom and
715
00:41:37.559 --> 00:41:40.239
dad have helped him out, and so basically they're going
716
00:41:40.360 --> 00:41:45.960
to shelters and they're transporting animals to other places or
717
00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:48.880
to adoptive homes wherever they need to go, whatever's needed
718
00:41:48.880 --> 00:41:52.440
of them, and getting these animals, dogs and stuff out
719
00:41:52.480 --> 00:41:56.599
of the shelters. And they even have fostering as well.
720
00:41:56.760 --> 00:42:02.360
So kudos to Roman and his family for doing such
721
00:42:02.440 --> 00:42:06.000
awesome work and trying to help out the animals, especially
722
00:42:06.039 --> 00:42:08.039
with him starting at such a young age.
723
00:42:08.159 --> 00:42:09.920
It's awesome when you see.
724
00:42:10.199 --> 00:42:13.599
Kids that are driven to do things like this and
725
00:42:13.679 --> 00:42:17.280
try to help and it's encouraging to know that their
726
00:42:17.400 --> 00:42:20.719
kids like that out there, like Roman. I mean, I
727
00:42:20.760 --> 00:42:24.519
know there's quite a few different ones, but and kudos
728
00:42:24.519 --> 00:42:26.119
to any of you guys out there, any of you
729
00:42:26.199 --> 00:42:28.119
kids out there and your families that support you in
730
00:42:28.239 --> 00:42:30.960
doing things like this. But we're going to talk more
731
00:42:31.000 --> 00:42:34.280
with Roman and Jennifer about Project Freedom Right and how
732
00:42:34.280 --> 00:42:37.920
it all got going and what all they're doing and
733
00:42:37.960 --> 00:42:40.880
what projects they're working on, and that'll be June eleventh,
734
00:42:41.760 --> 00:42:46.559
and then after that on June twenty fifth podcast, The
735
00:42:46.920 --> 00:42:50.960
Orca Behavior Files is going to be on and we're
736
00:42:51.000 --> 00:42:54.159
going to be talking about Orca whales. So I am
737
00:42:54.280 --> 00:42:56.960
so looking forward to learning more about the killer whales
738
00:42:57.039 --> 00:43:00.280
and their behaviors and stuff like that and what's going
739
00:43:00.280 --> 00:43:02.239
on with them. And my guest is going to be
740
00:43:03.079 --> 00:43:08.400
Monica Wheeland Shields, and she's an Orca researcher and she
741
00:43:09.320 --> 00:43:12.679
has been studying Orcus for a number of years, and
742
00:43:12.800 --> 00:43:16.039
so she is going to be on the podcast to
743
00:43:16.119 --> 00:43:19.519
talk with me about Orcus and give us all sorts
744
00:43:19.519 --> 00:43:23.840
of great information about them and their behaviors. And I
745
00:43:23.880 --> 00:43:26.760
know we've been seeing probably in the news here lately,
746
00:43:26.880 --> 00:43:32.199
something about Orca's behaviors and that they're going after more
747
00:43:32.280 --> 00:43:35.599
ships and boats and stuff. So that's kind of interesting.
748
00:43:35.719 --> 00:43:38.000
I mean, I'm sure it's scary for the people that's
749
00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:40.360
happening to, but it's also interesting to me that this
750
00:43:40.519 --> 00:43:43.880
is going on because you know, it's something driving them
751
00:43:43.960 --> 00:43:47.280
to do this, is that you know what's going on here?
752
00:43:47.320 --> 00:43:50.320
Would their with their behavior change that they're they're going
753
00:43:50.360 --> 00:43:52.639
after more ships and boats and stuff like that when
754
00:43:52.679 --> 00:43:55.519
they I don't think normally do those kinds of things.
755
00:43:55.559 --> 00:43:58.719
So that's going to be a pretty interesting podcast, and
756
00:43:58.719 --> 00:44:01.159
I'm looking forward to talking to my about Orcas and
757
00:44:01.199 --> 00:44:04.760
their behaviors. So don't forget. I hope you can come
758
00:44:04.800 --> 00:44:08.599
back and join me on Junie leventh for Roman and
759
00:44:08.719 --> 00:44:12.719
Jen and Project freedom Ride and then on the twenty
760
00:44:12.800 --> 00:44:17.400
fifth about the Orcas with Monica and learn more about
761
00:44:17.440 --> 00:44:20.119
those and those guys and their behaviors. So I'm looking
762
00:44:20.159 --> 00:44:22.039
forward to those two podcasts. I think they're going to
763
00:44:22.079 --> 00:44:25.559
be good ones. And with that being said, that's pretty
764
00:44:25.599 --> 00:44:28.360
much the end of the podcast. Today or tonight.
765
00:44:29.639 --> 00:44:30.360
Went just a.
766
00:44:30.239 --> 00:44:32.760
Little bit shorter, but that's okay because some of them
767
00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:35.559
go a little bit longer. But I was glad to
768
00:44:35.599 --> 00:44:38.079
talk with Matthew and get more information out about the
769
00:44:38.119 --> 00:44:41.280
Honeybees and what's going on with them and how we
770
00:44:41.320 --> 00:44:44.119
can help. So I hope you guys enjoyed the podcast.
771
00:44:44.880 --> 00:44:48.239
Stay safe out there, don't get into trouble, and I
772
00:44:48.280 --> 00:44:51.000
hope you all have a great weekend, and don't forget
773
00:44:51.039 --> 00:44:52.639
to come on back in a couple of weeks to
774
00:44:52.880 --> 00:44:55.639
learn more about Project freedom Ride and then after that
775
00:44:55.800 --> 00:44:58.760
about the Orcus. All right, everybody, have a good night,
776
00:44:58.800 --> 00:44:59.760
now bye.