Bees can be harmed or killed by some pests and diseases. Beekeepers can help protect New Zealand bees from these biosecurity threats. Find out how to protect your bees, and what pests and diseases are present in New Zealand

Now, square that off with the following article

Opinion: Australia is in a unique position to eliminate the bee-killing Varroa mite. Here’s what happens if we don’t

Varroa mites are a threat to food security. Although Australia has an abundance of food and exports it to other nations, the price of food is likely to increase if Varroa escapes confinement.

Currently, pollination of crops in eradication zones such as berries in Coffs Harbor is at risk due to the removal of all honey bees in the region, which may lead to short-term increases in food costs.

However, establishment and spread of Varroa will lead to lower pollination and lower crop production across the country, which will raise the price of most fruit and vegetables that depend on bee pollination.

This could worsen the food affordability crises caused by the current inflation, affecting the ability of low income households to buy nutritious and fresh produce. Almond pollination has already noted a deficit of 80,000 hives in the last season.

In the midst of all this this headline appeared in only ONE NZ media outlet, although it was covered in Bloomberg and the Guardian. You’d think it was important and the media would cover it and the government would be defending the interests of the industry.

But we have a state-controlled media that is not interested and a government that has dropped the ball on anything to do with the rural sector (apart from trying to destroy it with policies from the UN and the WEF)

Kiwi mānuka honey producers lose trademark bid

The mānuka honey industry has been dealt another blow — it has lost its bid to trademark the term ‘Manuka Honey’ in New Zealand.

Backed by the wider honey industry and government, The Mānuka Honey Appellation Society has been working to protect the term so that only honey from New Zealand can be called mānuka since 2015.

It argues mānuka is a Māori word and a distinctive product of New Zealand.

But the Australian Manuka Honey Association has been appealing the effort in multiple markets — saying honey produced there can also be called mānuka.

In a just released decision, the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand found the society’s certification mark bid did not meet necessary requirements.

Neonicatinoids

While putting this together I remembered about the liberal use of neonicotinoids in New Zealand.  This was a huge deal a few years ago even though the problem has gone nowhere.

All discussion of this in New Zealand has stopped ( even, the august Pesticides Action made its last post in 2019).

I strongly suspect that the use of insecticides like neonicotinoids, as well as liberal use of Glyphosate is a large part of the destruction of our insect and bee populations. 

Here is a German documentary about this.

Toxic chemicals – A menace to bees and farmland

Modern agriculture is designed to produce high yields. But it also depletes the soil. How do over-fertilization and pesticides impact the environment and humans? Are we poisoning our world and driving species to extinction?

Fertile farmland is a precious resource – and it is vital to food production. But the abundant use of chemicals is ravaging the Earth, while pesticides are making species go extinct, contaminating soils, and killing off microorganisms important to a healthy generation of humus.

Glyphosate, neonicotinoids, organophosphates, or pyrethroids: These are just a few of the approximately 1,000 pesticides and herbicides approved in Germany to kill pests, fungi, and weeds. Farmers distribute about 90,000 tons of pesticides a year on their crops – yielding billions of euros of business for chemical companies.

“Neonicotinoids are flushed into the soil by the rain. There, they are highly toxic to many organisms … They poison insects and the environment”, explains toxicologist Henk Tennekes. Neurotoxins from neonicotinoids have long been suspected of causing bees to die en masse. It took 30 years for neonicotinoids to be prohibited EU-wide, in 2021, even though early studies had warned against their use. Even now, the fight isn’t over. For one thing, emergency approvals for neonicotinoids are being used to circumvent their prohibition. For another, other substances with similar applications have been on the market for a long time, the effects of which are insufficiently researched. Moreover, neonicotinoids are still authorized for use in many countries outside the EU.

Nearly 40 percent of the EU budget is spent on agriculture. The common agricultural policy (CAP) was recently renegotiated and will be in place until 2027. It is supposed to also promote eco- and climate-friendly agriculture. But many say the new CAP is still far from green.

Europe Bans Three Neonicotinoids

Regulation: Chemicals linked to disastrous honeybee population declines cannot be used for at least two years, European Commission says

EU Ban on Neonics: Too Little, Too Late

Neonicotinoids are the most popular – and the most poisonous – insecticides in the world. The large-scale collateral damage caused by neonicotinoids, or ‘neonics’ in short, on our ecosystem has been suppressed for years by industry spin doctors and intensive lobbying by producers of this agricultural poison. Although the recent EU ban on neonics is an important step it is not yet enough to turn the tide, argues Jeroen van der Sluijs.

Are neonicotinoid pesticides killing bees?

New studies appear to confirm that neonicotinoid pesticides are killing bees, even as chemical companies continue to tout their safety. An EU-wide ban is looking increasingly likely

Bees aren’t just the makers of delicious honey, they play a crucial role in the world’s agricultural systems. But they are slowly vanishing – due mainly to loss of habitat and exposure to pesticides.

Pesticides are present all around us – from the flowers in our gardens, to our meals, our soaps and our swimming pools.

Insecticides are generally the most toxic pesticides, at least in terms of direct, short-term effects, according to the Pesticide Action Network.

Particularly controversial are neonicotinoids, a family of insecticides used to control destructive crop pests. In 2013, the EU restricted their use after detecting environmentally harmful effects – particularly on bees.

But the debate still rages: Should neonicotinoids be completely banned? Or are they safe enough to continue to use?

The European Commission is preparing to review limits on the use of neonicotinoids set out in 2013. By fall this year, these pesticides could be under much tighter control.

That’s Europe. What about New Zealand?

Very hard to find out.

This is a subject that has ZERO reflection in the now- government controlled media in New Zealand.

There is nothing post-2018.

Neonicotinoid ban in NZ could leave no alternatives for farmers – experts

A European move to outlaw a controversial class of pesticides has been lauded by environment groups – but a similar ban here could cause headaches for agriculture, experts say.

Over the weekend, the European Commission voted to ban neonicotinoid pesticides in EU member states at the end of this year, with only closed greenhouses exempt.

The move followed concerns and new evidence that neonicotinoids could affect some pollinators, including honeybees, whose population declines had been linked to the agent.

Used extensively to protect crops here and overseas, many neonicotinoids have systemic effects on plants, meaning treating the seeds with them can leave a plant protected throughout its life.

They have largely replaced problematic insecticides used in the past, such as organophosphates and DDT, although in light of environmental concerns, major retailers including Placemakers, The Warehouse and Bunnings Warehouse have taken them off the shelves.

Current New Zealand rules around neonicotinoids include not spraying insecticides close to bee hives or crops with budding or flowering plants where bees may gather and feed.

The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) said while rules here were working, there could still be instances where non-target organisms, like bees and insects were exposed.

“When new information is released, the EPA always takes a good look at the science, evaluating it to see if there’s something we need to factor into our thinking here,” said the EPA’s general manager for hazardous substances and new organisms, Dr Fiona Thomson-Carter.

This was true in 2012