“Sometimes you saw a queen bee and just a few bees left and sometimes there were none at all,” Popp said.
What causes the disorder is still unknown, though many researchers believe a combination of disease, pesticides and a lack of access to nectar may be to blame, said Barbara Bloetscher, an entomologist with the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
The devastating loss pushed Popp to take a gamble and drive to Claxton, Ga., to buy $10,000 worth of bees — equating to about 500 pounds of insects — to populate his empty hives and hopefully breed to fill 50 new hives.
For a week, 300 hives encircled his property at 3134 Oxford Middletown Road while Popp looked over his new brood before splitting them up between 30 different locations across three counties. He’s hopeful the bees have bred and expanded so that he’ll collect 20,000 pounds of honey this summer.
Popp also sold some of the bees to other bee keepers in the area to replace their stocks which also were decimated by CCD. And from the calls Huston said she’s received from markets and grocers as far away as Wisconsin, many other honey farmers have gone out of business, unable to afford to replace their bees.
“There are a lot of people calling us now saying they need honey,” she said. “I’m thinking there will be a shortage this year.”
Keeping up the bee population is much more important than just honey production. Bloetscher said one-third of all food eaten is pollinated by bees.
“The best thing that people can do (to help) is plant flowers native to the area ... and watch their pesticide use,” she said. “Just spray the leaves, not the flowers.”
As a 15-year veteran and Preble County bee inspector, Popp said he’s confident scientists will find the answer to colony collapse disorder. In the meantime, he said as long as he can afford to replace them, his farm will stay open.
“You get upset but you don’t get discouraged because I love bee keeping, that is my passion,” he said. “And I’ve got people and stores who count on me and if I don’t produce honey they won’t have any.”
For more information, visit donpoppshoneyfarm.com or to learn more about CCD, visit ohiostatebeekeepers.org.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2843 or jheffner@coxohio.com.
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