Dan [Schmehl] is a pollinator ecotoxicologist for Bayer, who has done some incredible work testing the effects of potential new agrochemicals on bees.

“Compared to 30 years ago, acute bee kills (walking up to a yard of dead colonies), are less frequent and more sporadic. This is the result of safer chemistries and improvements in best management practices. For example, better planting equipment has resulted in less dust emission during corn planting, and many growers are spraying pesticides in the evening when bee foraging is reduced… The only way to solve pesticide/honey bee issues is to know about them and to investigate them. However, word of mouth seems to confirm the reduction in bee kills,” said Dan.

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“Right now, there is a lot of research into sublethal effects on honey bee colonies.” And Dan admits that this is an area of uncertainty. There isn’t any clear answer. For a while, it seemed like every article written on honey bees was saying how pesticides impacted some aspect of the colony: the queen’s ability to lay, a bee’s ability to navigate, a bee’s ability to forage, etc. It is possible that some of these effects could be the cause of a poorly performing colony, even if the colony survives.

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Overall, the risk is small, and, unless there is a catastrophic pesticide event, pesticides are one of multiple stressors in the hive that may interact to exacerbate colony health concerns. So, if your bees are in an area where pesticides are normally applied, find out what is used, how much risk that poses to your bees and see if they will apply the pesticide when your bees are less active. The best defense is to keep your bees as healthy as possible, allowing the colony to cope with low-level pesticide exposures that might occur.

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