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Mysterious ailment killing bees, could affect some cropsCOLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)--Ohio beekeepers have not escaped the effects of a mysterious ailment killing honeybees that pollinate dozens of fruits and vegetables bought at grocery stores and farm markets. Joe Blair found half of his 2,000 hives empty in Fairfield County in central Ohio. It will cost at least $60,000 to replace his losses. "You love your bees, or you can't be a beekeeper," Blair said. "It's sad. It almost makes you want to cry." Bee researchers are baffled by the ailment that has killed off tens of thousands of honeybee colonies in 24 states. Some bees are remaining healthy while others have become afflicted with the illness called colony collapse disorder and aren't returning to the hives. "It's like trying to identify who committed the murder and you don't have a corpse," said Thomas Webster, a honeybee researcher at Kentucky State University. Farmers rely on honeybees to pollinate at least 70 crops in Ohio. Bees helped farmers in the state produce an estimated $86.8 million worth of apples, peaches, grapes, strawberries, pumpkins, squash, cucumbers and cabbage in 2005, according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture. "You can't just go out and find something else to do that pollination work," said Steve Hirsch, co-owner of Hirsch Fruit Farm near Chillicothe. The state should have a good idea in the coming weeks about how many bees have been lost when keepers check their hives, said John Grafton, apiary program supervisor for the agriculture department. Wet springs that followed frigid winters also hurt many hives, said Jim Tew, a beekeeping specialist at Ohio State University's research center in Wooster. "It's kind of a one-two punch," Tew said. Barry Conrad, a Canal Winchester beekeeper, said 12 of his 26 hives survived the winter. "I've heard lots of stories of people losing 80 percent of their hives," Conrad said. Researchers are not sure if this is a new disease or a pesticide or parasite. Tew said there was a similar problem in the 1960s called "disappearing disease." "It was exactly the same thing," he said. But this time, more hives are collapsing at a much faster rate, said Dewey Caron, a University of Delaware entomologist. 3/26/07 C 1 None 0 None None Date: 3/23/07
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