I've been waiting for someone in the media to put this together but it hasn't happened yet so I'll go ahead and blog it for the heck of it.

In the recent revelation that the culprit behind Colony Collapse Disorder, the IAPV virus, came from Australia, no one is drilling deeper and asking how it got here. My understanding is that back in 2003 "Big Almond" was so concerned about the explosive growth of the almond industry causing potential shortages that almond ranchers asked the USDA to allow the importation of bees from Austraila. It was the first time since the 1920's that bees had been imported to this country. 

It's fascinating and surreal to watch how powerful the almond industry has become. For such a relatively small market, the ABC (the Almond Board of California) wields unusual sway over the USDA. Earlier this year, they asked the USDA to require pasteurization of almonds, while still allowing almond growers to call their product "raw." The USDA is moving forward, as requested, a prelude to a very serious blow against truth in labeling for our foods.

Personally, I'd like to know if the ABC asked for the 80-year-old bee importation law to be changed, to allow for importation of Australia pollinators. It would be very interesting to discover that this small but mighty Board's request was the trigger for the avalanche called Colony Collapse Disorder.

 

Some citation:

 

"The Modesto-based California Almond Board expects a 50 percent increase in the supply of almonds in the next five years, which should depress future prices and place even more demands on the failing bees."

 

"Almond ranchers generally stick to more lawful methods of solving their pollination problems, however. Almond growers supplied half of all of bee research funding last year, in the hopes of propping up the bee supply by developing a better miticide or breeding a more varroa-resistant bee. In 2004, the USDA for the first time allowed almond ranchers to import hives from Australia and New Zealand, but the jet-lagged bees proved far less efficient than their northern counterparts."

 

 

 

"In 2006, losses caused by these pests and mites and other recent problems required U.S. beekeepers to import some honey bees from other countries (namely, New Zealand and Australia) for pollination services. This marked the first time since 1922 that honey bees were imported into the U.S. for pollination, underscoring the fragile state of the U.S. honey industry."