The Northern Path

The Economist has a story on a supposed glut of bees in California. Their scenario for the fall and rise of commercial bee populations has as much to do with economics as ecology:

This year’s Californian bee glut, then, has been caused by a mixture of rising supply meeting falling demand. The price of almonds dropped by 30% between August and December last year, as people had less money in their pockets. That has caused growers to cut costs, and therefore hire fewer hives. There is also a drought in the region, and many farmers are unlikely to receive enough water to go ahead with the harvest. Meanwhile, the recent high prices for pollination contracts made it look worthwhile fattening bees up with supplements over the winter. That may help explain why there have been fewer colony collapses.

The rise and fall of the managed honeybee, then, owes as much to the economics of supply and demand as it does to the forces of nature. And if the nutrition and disease theory is correct, next year’s lower contract prices may see beekeepers cutting back on supplemental feeding, and a resurgence of CCD.

Although the article implies that CCD (colony collapse disorder) is treatable and expresses skepticism about the thesis that there is a larger pollination crisis, there is still plenty of material to give pause to anyone who cares about the environment. If other pollinators such as butterflies and bats are perishing for other reasons such as habitat depletion, this is still bad. And if the bees are being depleted by serving monocultures, this is just one more reason that monocultures are bad. I’ve also learned from this article that growers hire apiaries through middlemen called “pollination brokers,” which for some reason sounds mildly creepy, as if it comes from some sci-fi dystopia. But alas, it’s not sci-fi, it’s the industrial agriculture that surrounds us — which is creepy enough.

The mysterious death of US bee populations, called Colony Collapse Disorder, has been very much in the news lately. At this point the causes of this crisis are not yet understood. Of course the threat is not only to meadmakers: the broader environment and the entire agricultural system are at risk.

Among the potential responses, there is an online campaign circulating to send the honeybees a “message of appreciation” today.

For some reason, this idea puts me in mind of the Anglo Saxon Bee Charm. A beekeeper faced with a group of bees swarming before they fly off to start a new colony addresses the bees with a marvelous poem, asking them not to depart:

Sitte ge, sigewif, sigað to eorþan!
Næfre ge wilde to wuda fleogan.
Beo ge swa gemindige mines godes,
swa bið manna gehwilc metes and eþeles.

(Alight, victorious women, descend to earth!
Never fly wild to the wood.
Be as mindful of my good
As every man is of food and home.)

I’ve always loved this charm, especially for its use of the term “sigewif” (victorious women) to address the bees. I can’t help thinking that the poem is somehow apt, although some Heathens have sensibly pointed out that the problem we have on our hands here is a dearth of bees, not a swarm of them. Still, this is an interesting and powerful piece, which uses earth as part of the ritual and addresses the bees with respect. So if I pause to send a message to the bees today, it will be in Anglo-Saxon.

Wið ymbe nim eorþan, oferweorp mid þinre swiþran
handa under þinum swiþran fet, and cwet:

Fo ic under fot, funde ic hit.
Hwæt, eorðe mæg wið ealra wihta gehwilce
and wið andan and wið æminde
and wið þa micelan mannes tungan.

And wiððon forweorp ofer greot, þonne hi swirman, and cweð:

Sitte ge, sigewif, sigað to eorþan!
Næfre ge wilde to wuda fleogan.
Beo ge swa gemindige mines godes,
swa bið manna gehwilc metes and eþeles.

(Take earth, cast it with thy right hand under thy right foot, and say:

I put it under foot; I have found it.
Lo, the earth can prevail over all creatures,
And against injury, and against forgetfulness,
And against the mighty tongue of man.

Cast dust over them when they swarm, and say:

Alight, victorious women, descend to earth!
Never fly wild to the wood.
Be as mindful of my good
As every man is of food and home.)

(Text from the Free Man’s Garden blog)