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URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — Scientists said hundreds of millions of bees nationwide have died in the last eight months, and that it’s the worst loss in recorded history. And the ripple effects are being felt all over the country.
The USDA and other organizations are collecting data from sick hives but haven’t found the answer yet. However, University of Illinois entomology professor Adam Dolezal said commercial beekeepers lost 62% of their colonies on average from June of last year up until last month.
This loss comes at a critical time for people in the industry.
“They’re getting their bees ready to go pollinate almonds in California, which is one of the most economically important crops for the beekeeping industry,” Dolezal said. “But if the number of bees isn’t available to meet those needs, we will either potentially see shortfalls in production or just increase costs for almond producers to have to hire beekeepers to pollinate their almonds.”
In Illinois, there aren’t a lot of commercial beekeepers, so the local area hasn’t seen as sharp of a decline.
Dolezal said it’s not all bad though. He said beekeepers are resilient and he could see them being able to bounce back from these losses. He also expects researchers to figure out why bees are dying so quickly in the next couple months.