Plymouth County Beekeepers

MDAR is keeping a meeting these days, March 7 from 2-4 p.m. EST regarding the Massachusetts Pollinator Protection Arrange on Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, place 110 Cronin Building, 1 Rabbit Hill path, Westborough, MA. Beekeepers are at the conference to weigh in and oppose the program.

“The beekeepers’ program would help bees. MDAR’s plan won't, ” said Ann Rein, president of Plymouth County Beekeepers Association and one of the writers of beekeepers Pollinator cover Plan Framework. “By not adopting the beekeepers’ framework their state is discounting the information and expertise associated with the beekeeping neighborhood. This Can Be egregious.”

MDAR asked for commentary previously in 2010 regarding the program, prompting above 3, 000 beekeepers across the state to your workplace together to create a Pollinator cover Plan Framework. The framework provided on state agency was written by leaders inside beekeeping business who have centuries of combined beekeeping experience with Massachusetts. Included in this are experts, past state apiary inspectors, attorneys, farmers, gardeners and commercial and hobby beekeepers.

"Massachusetts Farm Bureau initially penned the master plan minus the feedback of county beekeepers and couldn't address the issues to safeguard pollinators, " said Lucy Tabit, owner of Hana’s Honey. "They put my title about it, without my understanding or authorization. MDAR informed us they might merge our plan aided by the plan created by Farm Bureau. Rather they wrote their program that ignored our inputs. If the state really wants to protect bees, they ought to follow the beekeepers’ program. We don’t know who’s working this initiative – what we can say for certain usually it’s NOT us beekeepers. If my beehives are now being killed by farming or residential chemical spray, so might be a variety of various other native pollinators plus the other wildlife that eat them.”

The Pollinator cover Plan suggested by MDAR dismissed the beekeeping community's requests and favors the pesticide business. The program:

• Places obligation on backyard beekeepers to prevent pesticides in place of putting responsibility regarding the condition to adopt statewide pesticide restrictions
• Doesn't spot limitations on bee-killing pesticides
• Does not offer information into the community to determine plants addressed with neonicotinoid insecticides
• Doesn't develop pollinator forage which free of pesticides
• Locations unfair legislation and imposes impractical guidelines on beekeepers, avoiding them from being able to effectively handle their bees
• Asks beekeepers to determine hive areas, but doesn't need pesticide applicators to report where they're applying pesticides or inform beekeepers of programs
• Fails to deal with indigenous bees and local pollinators; just addresses managed bees
• Needs beekeepers to prevent their particular bees from swarming, which can be not necessarily feasible because swarming is an all-natural procedure in a good healthier hive.

The White House established the Pollinator Health Task Force in June 2014 to evaluate pollinator health and the impacts of pesticides, including neonicotinoids, on pollinators. In-may, the Task energy released its nationwide Pollinator wellness approach. As part of the national method, EPA is depending on states and tribes to build up pollinator protection plans.

"What’s happening in Massachusetts appears to have occurred various other states too like ny and Wisconsin, ” said Wayne Andrews, Adjunct Instructor of Beekeeping and a part of Bristol County Beekeepers Association. “These programs promote a pesticide business agenda in place of dealing with the systemic drivers killing our bees. A weak state program may signify beekeepers becomes an endangered species, alongside our pollinators.”

“Beekeepers in the united states are now being overlooked although the pesticide business will continue to pull the wool over legislators’ eyes, ” said Tiffany Finck-Haynes, meals futures campaigner with Friends of this Earth. “The EPA is driving the buck to states in the place of pursuing solutions when it comes to beekeepers that are bearing the brunt of agency policies. The EPA must adopt a federal, unified program that addresses the usage of systemic pesticides to protect bees and beekeepers.”

###

Expert associates:
Tiffany Finck-Haynes, Friends regarding the Earth, (202) 222-0715, tfinckhaynes@foe.org
Ann Rein, President, Plymouth County Beekeepers Association, (781) 956-7994, annbal@comcast.net
Wayne Andrews, M.S., Adjunct instructor of BeeKeeping and member of Bristol County BeeKeepers Association, (508) 567-2944, PestVex@gmail.com
Lucy Tabit, Owner of Hana’s Honey, (508) 991-9116, lrtabit@yahoo.com

Groups: Food and Tech, News Releases / Tags: Bees, Neonicotinoids