What would you link if you were told that cattle were producing 30% less milk each year, which could endanger future supplies? The implications of that story would be hugely significant and be front page news. Well for another vital resource this is actually happening. Bee numbers in the UK have fallen 15–30% in the last two years, mirroring steep declines and empty hives witnessed in the US, mainland Europe and elsewhere. This is an extraordinary figure and the impact of their loss could be devastating forbagriculture.

Defra and WAG  have produced a plan (March 2009 – available on the WAG website) that aims to address the challenges facing beekeepers in the light of these dramatic declines in honey bees in the UK and rest of the world.

Honey bees contribute directly to local food production and make an important contribution, through pollination, to crop production. They are susceptible to a variety of threats, including pests and diseases such as varroa mites, foulbrood and viruses. Colony losses due to varroa infestation have increased since 2001. This is a result of the mites developing resistance to available pyrethroid varroacides and the limited alternative treatments. It is vital that effective pest management is carried out to reduce spread and manage disease. The increased use of powerful new pesticides on crops such as maize and rapeseed, and more intensive farming are also possible causes of their decline.

Beekeeping is undertaken by 200–300 commercial bee farmers and some 33,000 amateur beekeepers. The economic value of honey bees as crop pollinators is much greater than their value as honey and wax producers. In the USA California’s almond crop collapsed by 80% when the honey bee population crashed in that state. In Europe, at the current rate of mortality, Apimondia (an international beekeeping body) has said European beekeepers could only survive another 8–10 years.

At the moment many beekeepers are not members of any beekeeping associations and are not recorded on the National Bee Unit’s voluntary database of beekeepers (BeeBase), making them difficult to reach and include in the disease surveillance programme operated by the NBU’s Bee Inspectors.

The plan aims to address the challenges facing beekeepers. It aims to keep pests and diseases to the lowest levels achievable, promote good standards of husbandry, encourage effective biosecurity, ensure sound science underpins policy and encourage joint working. Encouraging individual beekeepers to sign up to BeeBase and raise awareness about disease recognition and promotion of good beekeeping husbandry.

Publication of the plan marks the beginning of work on its implementation and the identification of further priorities and actions and identifies the roles and responsibilities of Government, beekeepers and other stakeholders in achieving the plan’s aims.

As well as the caring for bees in their hives, everyone can help them out in their gardens by planting nectar-rich plants and plants that flower early in the spring to provide that vital food source early on in the season.