Bee Disease: Land Use, Pollinator Markets, and Consumer Impacts

Please join Interior’s Office of Policy Analysis on February 8 for their monthly speaker series.  Commercial honey bee pollination is estimated to support cultivation of crops that account for up to one-third of total U.S. food consumption. However, the health and abundance of honey bees in the United States is threatened by parasitic mites, poor nutrition, diseases-including Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), environmental stressors, and other factors. This month’s seminar will focus on the USDA-ERS’s pollinator health research related to the effects of land management and forage quality on honey bee health and the implications of bee disease. Jennifer Bond and Dan Hellerstein will provide a summary of the team’s work in progress as well as background on the U.S. honey and pollination services markets.

Jennifer Bond, Economist and Pollinator Health Team Coordinator

Daniel Hellerstein, Senior Economist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (ERS)