By Samantha Grenrock
Gainesville - Hurricane Michael (click here) significantly impacted the beekeeping industry in the Florida Panhandle. This area is home to about 500 registered beekeepers and nearly 50,000 colonies, which amounts to more than 1.2 billion bees. These colonies are vital to Florida agriculture because the bees provide pollination services to many of the state’s crops.
Beekeepers in the Florida Panhandle are racing to save their colonies as many forage resources — blooming trees and flowers — were destroyed in the hurricane. Furthermore, many of the colonies have been destroyed, damaged or otherwise cannot be accessed due to the hurricane.
How can you help?...
"Greater Good" Save the Honey Bees (click here)
October 23, 2018
GreaterGood.org partnered with the Florida State Beekeepers Association (click here) and the Florida State Department of Agriculture to help more than 1 billion starving bees and avoid an ecological disaster left in the wake of Hurricane Michael by donating over a quarter million pounds of sugar syrup.
A tanker containing 4,500 gallons of sugar syrup was delivered to Wewahitcha on Monday. The delivery is one of seven taking place by the Rescue Bank across the Panhandle.
This temporary alternative food source will serve up to 50,000 bee colonies to avoid them from collapsing and permanently wreaking havoc on the country’s citrus supply.
“Hurricane Michael is the strongest storm to ever hit the Florida Panhandle, and there is a true emergency for the state’s bee population that has a potentially devastating long-term impact,” said Liz Baker, executive director of GreaterGood.org. “Losing this bee population would create a major ripple effect on U.S. agriculture, and we knew we needed to act quickly to make this emergency donation happen.”
Emergency supplies of sugar syrup will keep bee colonies sustained while bee forage material regrows, which is estimated to take at least a month....
