Honey Bees Still Taking A Hit

Losses of managed honey bee colonies nationwide totaled 33.8 percent from all causes from October 2009 to April 2010, according to a survey conducted by the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

Beekeepers identified starvation, poor weather, and weak colonies going into winter as the top reasons for mortality in their operations.

Photo: USDA

This is an increase from overall losses of 29 percent reported from a similar survey covering the winter of 2008-2009, and similar to the 35.8 percent losses for the winter of 2007-2008.

The continued high rate of losses are worrying, especially considering losses occurring over the summer months were not being captured, notes Jeffrey Pettis, research leader of ARS' Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md. ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's principal intramural scientific research agency. The survey was conducted by Pettis and past AIA presidents Dennis vanEngelsdorp and Jerry Hayes. The three researchers said that continued losses of this magnitude are not economically sustainable for commercial beekeepers.

The 28 percent of beekeeping operations that reported some of their colonies perished without dead bees present--a sign of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)--lost 44 percent of their colonies. This compares to 26 percent of beekeepers reporting such dead colonies in the 2008-2009 winter and 32 percent in the 2007-2008 winter. Beekeepers that did not report their colonies having CCD lost 25 percent of their colonies.

As this was an interview-based survey, it was not possible to differentiate between verifiable cases of CCD and colonies lost as the result of other causes that share the "absence of dead bees" as a symptom. The cause of CCD is still unknown.

The survey checked on about 22.4 percent of the country's estimated 2.46 million colonies. The survey reports only winter losses and does not capture colony losses that occur throughout the summer when queens or entire colonies fail and need to be replaced. Those summer losses can be significant.

A complete analysis of the survey data will be published later this year. The abstract can be found at http://ento.psu.edu/pollinators/publications/losses/at_download/file

More information about CCD can be found at www.ars.usda.gov/ccd.

 - From USDA

California Cotton Growers Facing A Potentially Tough Season

From Owen Taylor, AgFax Editorial Director: Our contacts in California have been telling us through the winter and into the spring that the state would have more cotton, something clearly reflected in surveys by both USDA and the National Cotton Council.

A cotton module beneath palm trees in the San Joaquin Valley. Photo © Debra L. Ferguson, Southern-Images.Com

As it's shaping up now, this could be a challenging season for cotton production in the state. The reason: too much rain. A succession of storms has moved through California this spring. Drier areas in the southern San Joaquin already have received more rain than they do in some years. In California's arid, irrigated production system, spring rain presents particular problems because it disrupts planting momentum and raises potential for seedling disease problems. It also fosters larger pest populations in wild areas, which later translate into heavy pest pressure in crops. That means more treatments and added costs.

Below you'll find comments made Friday by Tony Touma, a veteran private consultant and PCA (Professional Crop Adviser) who operates Bio Ag Consulting in Bakersfield in Kern County at the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley:

“Cotton is coming up in most fields. How all this rain and crazy weather affects the crop, you can’t say for sure. But it does increase potential for disease. It’s still too wet (4/23) to drive in some places, and we have another storm in the forecast for Tuesday or Wednesday (4/27-28). I hate to say it, but we never make a good cotton crop in Kern County during a wet year. You can have stand counts. Insect pressure tends to be higher because the foothills get green and give lygus a place to build populations. When that vegetation dries up, lygus move into the valley and become a big problem in cotton.

“I’m told that some dealers have run out of certain Roundup Ready varieties, and people are looking for them where they can. That’s happening because growers are planting more cotton than expected. One dairyman I know who also grows cotton had disked a field for corn, then decided to plant cotton in it. That says a lot about how much more people are moving to cotton.

“About half of our cotton is planted now. With seed in short supply, I’m hoping we don’t get into any replant issues.”

Bob Rose Sees Severe Weather Ahead, Maybe A Hotter Summer For Central Texas

One weather service we follow now is the forecasts coming from Bob Rose at the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA), based in Austin, Texas. Don't confuse the Colorado River in this case with the one to the west. The Texas Colorado River, among other things, supplies water for Austin and also provides irrigation resources for farmers growing rice and other crops west of Houston.

Click below to see Rose's latest video update, which predicts a return to more severe weather conditions after a mild early spring and the chance for a somewhat hotter, drier weather pattern than he initially expected.

Sugar Market Surge Tied To India, Which Will Likely Ramp Up Production: USDA

A sharp runup in global sugar prices in the last several months has much to do with a cyclical decline in sugar production in India - the world’s second largest producer - that is at least temporarily shifting the country from a net exporter of sugar to a net importer.

A white paper by Maurice R. Landes with USDA's Economic Research Service, maintains that the decline in India's production was due mainly to a policy cycle. Landes writes that India has more than enough resources to rebound, and he sees higher output coming in the new season.

"Sugar production is poised to rebound in 2010/11, as higher government price supports and open-market prices are likely to stimulate plantings and improve incentives to deliver sugarcane to sugar mills," he contends. "In the longer term, India has the capacity to boost sugarcane output, and the government and the sugar industry are considering policy measures to moderate the increasingly sharp cycles in sugar production and trade."

India is second only to Brazil as a sugar producer. Landes notes that India's sugar production accounts for a relatively small portion of the country's cropland. Between expanded acreage and expanded irrigated production, India has potential to produce more sugar. Long term, Indians also will consume more sugar as incomes increase, he adds.

Here's a link to his full report.

Arkansas Weed Scientist Has Pigweed Battle Plan

Dr. Ken Smith, extension weed scientist for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, is dead serious about the subject of herbicide resistant weeds, especially the obnoxious pigweed. He wants to see the seed dead before it even has a chance to germinate.

In Pigweed: Kill the Seed, Beat the Weed Smith makes these points:

• Pigweed seed has a fairly short life in the soil.
  
• Deep tillage is a promising tactic that exploits pigweed’s weakness.
• Burndown does NOT destroy pigweed seed, and it may actually stimulate germination by creating light.
• "Zero tolerance" combines hand hoeing and supplemental herbicide application, a method that may ensure pigweed doesn’t reach maturity and produce seed.

-Debra Ferguson

Cotton: New Potential Pest, Cottonseed Bug, Detected In Extreme S. Florida

USDA has issued an advisory regarding a potential cotton pest that has been detected in both Puerto Rico and the southernmost island in the Florida Keys.

The pest, the cottonseed bug (Oxycarenus hyalinipennis), is a pest of economic importance in Africa and Southeast Asia, according to a report prepared by USDA’s Plant Epidemiology and Risk Analysis Lab in Raleigh, N.C. Some sources also list it as a major pest in Brazil and India.

According to the report:

• It also is a potential pest on hibiscus and okra, among other crops. Israeli scientists, for example, have detected damage on fruit trees.
   
• In cotton, it damages seed in open bolls by sucking oil. That reduces seed weight. Staining also occurs when the insect is crushed during cotton harvest.

- Owen Taylor

Cow-generated electricity (no manure involved, at least not directly)

Popular Science carried a brief article in the May 2010 issue (see page 37) about a Northern Ireland farmer who built a cow-powered treadmill for generating electricity. According to the farmer, cows walk about 8 miles a day, anyway, and a well-exercised cow produces more milk and produces less greenhouse gas. Estimated payback on a multi-cow generator is about 3 years, he estimated.

This isn't an entirely new concept. The Amish have had equine-powered treadmills, using horses or mules to generate energy needed to operates static machinery. John Dappert, who lives in Crawford County, Illinois, told me through a posting on NewAgTalk.Com that some reprints of old Sears catalogs offered dog-powered treadmills for powering washing machines.

"Horse and mule power on treadmills were very common before electricity on the farm. I recall not too many years ago someone rigged a stationary bicycle to a generator to power a telivision, only way the kids could watch was to pedal the bike to generate the electricity to power the TV.  Old technology to adapt to a new problem, not a bad idea."

- Owen Taylor