Showing posts with label Agriculture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Agriculture. Show all posts

Thursday, 27 June 2019

France and the banning of neonicotinoid insecticides


France Becomes The First Country To Ban All Five Pesticides Linked To Bee Deaths.

Most of us will have seen this or similarly worded headlines on a myriad of mainstream media sites, blogs, alternative information sites and sites that are simply click bait for advertising revenue. Many of these so called articles are full of sensational erroneous statements and speculations that have no factual or scientific foundation what so ever.

Large numbers of people will have liked, shared and commented on these pages without any idea of what the reality is or giving it any real thought.  Most of us do this at some time or another on social media because to do otherwise would be too time consuming.

So what actually is the reality?

Yes, France has banned the use of five types of neonicotinoid insecticides that by definition have been shown to cause harm to insects.  This is two more than the EU have banned, although countries frequently derogate from the ban in certain circumstances, most recently, (Dec 2018), Belgium and some other countries are allowing sugar beet growers to use Imidacloprid as a seed treatment for 2019.  Seed treatments have been by far the main method of delivery used here in France principally on Oil Seed Rape, Maize and Sunflowers. They were also used as foliar sprays on fruit crops of most types after flowering.

However, that is not the end of the story.  Neonicotinoids are still used in flea treatments for domestic creatures and in the house plant industry.

There is little point discussing just how much, if at all, the neonicotinoids that were used in France affected honeybees, which are, after all, generally a commercially managed species here in the same way that chickens and pigs are. Overall there has been no decline in honey bee colonies.

It is however highly likely that they have contributed in no small manner to the decline of many other insect and bee species by virtue of sub lethal doses adding one more stress factor. Having said that, it’s impossible to quantify exactly what role they played against the backdrop of massive habitat loss and the large scale use of other pesticides, (some 2,500 authorised in France).

Here comes the rub. Without meaning to sound churlish, banning the five neonicotinoids in itself isn’t that big a deal when it comes to protecting the environment and saving our wildlife populations as a whole. What the ban has brought about is a return to open spraying of other pesticides, (although fungicides have always been open sprayed).  The problem is particularly bad when it comes to OSR* where the crops are sprayed when in full flower. This not only impacts all the different insects that are foraging or living there but also all the birds that nest in or along the margins of this crop.  In particular Linnet, Stone Chat, Yellow Wagtail, Corn bunting, Yellowhammer, Hen Harrier and Montague’s Harrier. Hedgehogs may also be present and foraging although not during actual spraying.

Click on image to expand



In conclusion, although this ban may be beneficial it is nowhere near enough given France is one of the greatest users of pesticides in Europe, something that is increasing at a substantial rate year on year. Huge changes have to be made if we are “to save everything” and not simply shuffle the cards using the same deck and still be killing as many species. 


OSR – Oil Seed Rape.

Pesticides – an overall generic term now used for all “cides”. Insecticides, Herbicides, Fungicides,  Rodenticides and so on.

Chris

Friday, 15 February 2019

Field beans as a fodder crop for sheep in France

In the autumn of 2018 several large fields where we live were planted predominantly with Field beans with a few other plants including fodder radish, mustard and phacelia. This has never happened here before and I was quite excited at the thought that these may be left to flower in the spring which would have been great for all manner of species including my bees. However it seems this is not going to happen.

Yesterday when I was out with my dog I saw that one of the fields was electric fenced and had sheep in it and that the adjacent field was also electric fenced but had been grazed.  



From both an agricultural and environmental perspective I can see the benefits in this. The crop as a green manure provides good winter cover, prevents nutrient leaching, adds nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil and the owner of the sheep has fresh early season fodder for their animals.

I should explain that sheep aren’t pastured where we live as it is more profitable to grow cereal crops and that the farmer that owns these particular sheep also grows cereals here including barley for his winter sheep feed. His sheep are kept for the summer some distance away on land that is unsuitable for cereals and are transported to his farm here for winter where they are housed in a huge barn where they are lambed before being returned in spring to their summer grazing pastures.

Regardless of your views on eating meat this would appear to be an improvement for the animals involved and the land.

Chris

Sunday, 9 December 2018

Hedgerows and Dry Stone Walls in France

As soon as we start to take a look at either Hedgerows or Dry stone walls it soon becomes clear that in France as in many parts of the UK it’s difficult to talk about one without the other.

Although there have been what could loosely be called hedgerows to some extent in France since before Roman times they really started to come into their own in the 16th and 17th centuries as the available land not already owned by the nobility or the Church was eagerly snapped up by the wealthy middle classes, the bourgeoisie urbaine. They used hedgerows to define their boundaries, to protect their crops and to prevent other farmers from grazing their land. Apparently hedge laying, (plessage), was widely used throughout France but has disappeared without a trace in many regions since the 1960’s and I have yet to see an example or a remnant in our region.  From the end of the 19th century and into the first half of the 20th century the industrialisation of agriculture started to change the face of the countryside only interrupted by the two world wars that France was subjected to. Following the second world war with mechanisation the changes to the nature of our landscape and the removal of hedgerows gathered pace, something that was given greater impulse with the land consolidations of the 1970’s and 1980’s and the move towards larger and larger fields when much of our hedgerow network was lost. All in all it is estimated that France has lost an astounding 2 million km of hedges and this is certainly not without its consequences.
Click on images to expand 

Above - Hedgerows take up farmers land.
Below - The convenience of removing them.


Throughout the same timescale we see the rise and literally the fall in the use of stone walls for enclosures, (murets de pierres) or sometimes a combination of the two, a dry-stone wall with a hedge. These can be found today in many parts of the region although the walls are often dilapidated and only partly standing other than when maintained around gardens. To most landowners they are generally at best of no interest or even a hindrance to their activities. Again the losses have been massive.
Above - remains of dry stone wall and hedgerow

Hedgerows come about in different ways, for different purposes and will contain different species. Leaving garden hedges aside from a strictly practical perspective for most farmers and landowners that meant making use of the most robust and abundant natural species that were probably growing there in the first place. Most people will know what they are, especially if they have a bit of rural land. Bramble, blackthorn, hawthorn, hazel, spindle, chestnut, oak, box, field maple, elm, beech, holly, ivy, dog rose and wild privet are all typically found and can provide a dense livestock barrier when managed correctly and do a rather good job of keeping people out as well.  Correct management, in this case, is keeping the hedge height and shape compact with a height of around 1.5 to 2.5 metres and a width of 1 to 1.5 metres. This will help prevent gaps appearing, something I see too often here where even newly planted hedgerows are simply left to grow into a row of closely planted trees with huge gaps and limited usefulness, however the occasional tree here and there that is allowed to mature as part of the hedgerow can be beneficial. 

 Above - Hawthorn berries 
   Below - Rosehips on Dogrose  

As mentioned there is little practical need for hedgerows by landowners anymore, indeed in my conversations with local agriculteurs they are often proud of the wide open landscapes with no nasty hedgerows to obscure the view and make life difficult. Where required the introduction and easy availability of metal wire, stock fencing and electric fencing has done away with the requirement for hedgerows. Whilst not wishing to blame them it needs to be understood that hedgerows and dry stone walls have a usefulness and long-term economic value both to farmers and wildlife that only too often hasn’t perhaps been considered or taken into account.

Hedgerows and Dry stone walls provide unique habitat structures that are completely different to anything else including woodland. Importantly they heat up and retain heat in a completely different way that provides protection and breeding habitat for birds, reptiles and mammals as well as a vast number of insects throughout the year. Another feature which will have been noticed by anyone that walks in the winter is that they provide fantastic windbreaks giving shelter from wind and driving rain on the lee side. This same wind break action helps to prevent the soil erosion that results from modern cereal production methods; in fact soil erosion now affects most of the main cereal growing areas in France and other major agricultural production regions and can amount to several tonnes per hectare every year. Given it takes around 500 years for just 2.5cm of topsoil to be created amid unimpeded ecological changes this is a resource we must conserve.
Good dense hedgerows will also build up a mass of living debris at the base, something that takes many years to establish and is of great value to both wildlife and maintaining the soil structure, somewhere for vast numbers of ground beetles and other insects to survive that will, in turn, provide food for hedgehogs and small insect-eating birds. As well as the bushes and trees that make up the hedgerow there will be numerous native flowers that find a place at the base, far too many to name here with native climbers such as Honeysuckle and both Black and White Bryony and White Bryony  provides food for the Bryony Ladybird, Henosepilachna argus, that eats the leaves. 
 Above - Bryony Ladybird
Below - Bryony Ladybird Larva eating Bryony leaves

Everywhere we look we find that all of the plants and the shrubs that are part of this structure will all have an importance to other species with many having unique or specific requirements.  Leaves provide food for specialist caterpillars, flowers provide nectar and pollen for different species of bees and other pollinators, broken hollow bramble stems are where the Small carpenter bee, Ceratina cyanea, a very small solitary bee species you may hardly notice lay their eggs. No article about hedgerows could leave out the importance of all those berries many of which rely on being eaten to be distributed far and wide having passed through a bird or a mammal. Blackberries are perhaps the most widely eaten of all our native berries, Birds, Pine and Stone Marten, Wasps, Hornets, and various other insect and fly species all have their share, not to forget humans. Hawthorn berries and Rosehips are sought after by the Thrush family, (Fieldfare, Redwing, Song and Mistle thrush), in winter when the weather is extreme and the ground is frozen. Hedgerows are also of huge importance to certain species of bat particularly Natterer’s bats and the two Horseshoe bat species, Greater and Lesser. Last but not least we will all have seen dead Barn owls by the side of the road and may even have been unfortunate enough to have collided with one in flight, I have and it isn’t a pleasant feeling. These collisions invariably occur where hedgerows have been removed for the simple reason that Barn Owls hunt by sweeping low across the land and a simple thing like a hedgerow pushes them up and over any traffic.
Above - Injured Barn Owl - one of the lucky ones

We have reached a point where although there is still a net loss of hedgerow each year the pace of removal is slowing; arguably it will be anyway because so much has already disappeared. Also there are land owners and sometimes communes that are planting new hedgerows and in the Vienne the LPO helps raise finance to plant hedgerows every year for a dozen or so small farmers that want to improve bio-diversity on their land.


In Poitou-Charentes the Association Prom’Haies provides a wealth of information and services to assist people in planting hedgerows located at :
Maison de la Forêt et du Bois - 79190 MONTALEMBERT - Tél : 05.49.07.64.02

Whilst welcoming all new hedge planting we do need to remember that a newly planted hedge will take many, many years to be anything like as useful as a hedge that has existed for 50 years or more so saving existing hedges should be a priority with continuity maintained wherever possible to preserve their role as wildlife corridors. Perhaps it’s worth mentioning that in December at Saint-Ciers-de-Canesse and Pugnac in the Bordeaux vineyards two 190 metre hedgerows have been planted to protect the school and its playground from spray drift following the 2014 poisoning of children in the Villeneuve School that resulted from spraying the adjacent vineyard. This type of planting is set to continue in other places where children are at risk.


As for the tragic loss of dry stone walls it unlikely that much can be done to redress this and it seems certain that most of those that exist in the open countryside will continue to disappear as they have no economic value. 

Chris 

Saturday, 8 September 2018

Buckwheat and Phacelia late cover crop in France


8th September 2018

It’s no exaggeration to say that increasingly the arable lands of France are becoming environmental wastelands as the same crops are grown time and time again, often on the same land with no rotation and an ever-increasing input of chemical fertilisers and use of pesticides. Manure from cattle and goat sheds is often added to the land in a raw form without being composted which greatly reduces its usefulness and in recent years with the growth in industrial poultry farming and egg production, the vast quantities of waste from these processes are often used. Even if we leave aside the manner in which livestock is treated these days the use of the waste in such a manner, whilst it may have apparent short-term gain, leads to imbalances in the soil that is already little more than compacted dust.

The main autumn sown crops of barley, wheat and oilseed rape tend to be harvested by the end of July with maize and sunflowers usually harvested in September and October. Other crops are grown in very much smaller quantities such as Buckwheat, Hemp, Tobacco, Sorghum, Fodder Peas, Field Beans, Alfalfa and others. A more concise list will be provided at a later date with their uses as well as any benefits or negative effects on the wider environment.

Click images to expand.




Photos above of dry August fields in France with not a flower to be seen.

A major problem is that by the start of August there are no flowers, or very few, and only vast expanses of bare ground or crops, (maize and sunflower), that are turning brown. Overall this leaves the environment seriously depleted of anything to provide nourishment for other species whatever they may be and we have all seen the reports of the decline in bird and insect numbers.

As a Beekeeper as well as being passionate about the environment and our native species I would be dishonest if I didn’t admit that I find the situation disheartening at times but this isn’t a groan or a moan, it’s about simple things that can change everything and in understanding that we can make things better, not ideal or perfect, just a bit better.

One such action took me by surprise 3 or 4 weeks ago when following the wheat harvest one of the local farmers sowed a field of around 20 to 25 hectares with a buckwheat and phacelia mix as a cover crop. This is something completely new around here and the difference it has made is outstanding and not just for my bees and all the other honeybee colonies in the close proximity.   


Photo above of field with buckwheat and phacelia

This mixture sown as a cover crop has a range of benefits and is ideal in this situation; both are fast growing and accept poor low fertility soils.
Buckwheat starts to flower in 3 to 4 weeks following sowing and continues for 3 to 4 weeks.
Phacelia is somewhat slower to mature and starts flowering in about 6 to 8 weeks following sowing and can continue for another 6 to 8 weeks.  



Photos above - Buckwheat on top, Phacelia beneath.

Both plants prevent nitrate leaching and take up useful minerals that are incorporated back into the soil when turned in and they both produce abundant biomass as well as acting as weed suppressants.  Of particular interest is the ability of Buckwheat to solubilise and take up phosphorus that is otherwise unavailable to crops and then release these nutrients to later crops as the residue breaks down.

The wildlife value when sown in late summer cannot be overstated at this critical time of year when little if anything else is flowering. They have incredibly high nectar and pollen production that provides for honeybees, solitary bees and bumblebees as well as hoverflies, butterflies and a vast range of other insects many of which provide valuable food for other species and of course the swallows as they prepare for their long migration.


If all arable farmers did the same with part of their land the cumulative effect could go some way towards helping prevent the continuing declines we have been witnessing in recent years. I will certainly be saying a big Merci to the farmer when I see him next in the hope he may continue or even expand this process in future years. 

Chris

Monday, 14 November 2016

Organic or Bio food in France

It would be negligent in the extreme to ignore the importance of Organic food production if we are to be serious about preserving our wildlife and the environment. All of the major French Bird and Wildlife Associations are now forming relationships and working closely with Organic farmers to enable them to be even more “Wildlife friendly” including installing ponds, hedgerows, bird and bat boxes. 


Although the consumption of organically produced food or Bio as it is known in France still only represents 3% of the total food consumed both the growth in demand and availability are increasing at an unprecedented rate with sales in 2015 reaching 5.75 billion euros which in itself is probably an underestimate. France itself at the end of 2015 had 28,725 certified organic farmers and 1.3 million hectares of certified land.

Of course a considerable amount of the organic food purchased in France isn’t actually produced in France but is imported from other countries. In some cases this is simply because the food in question couldn’t be grown in France, (Bananas, Coconuts, Pomegranates, Citrus fruits are good examples), or because France simply can’t or doesn’t produce sufficient quantities of some produce which can be for a number of reasons such as not having enough people or land in the given sector or because another country has a better climate and length of season providing greater productivity.

The issue of where the food is actually produced and how it is marketed is needless to say contentious and understandably so. Some people are of the opinion that all our needs should be met by buying local produce from a local producer and this is certainly something that makes good sense but there are limits to what can be purchased in this manner and at best will only supply a small part of a person’s diet. Much will depend on what local producers are present, what distance you would need to travel and when bearing in mind that people have work and other commitments. Many local producers do sell from home whether that be a farm, market garden or their house but frequently with fixed times and perhaps only for a couple of hours a week in addition to which they may be present at one local market a week.
Click photos to enlarge.
Fresh Organic produce from a local grower
Depending on where you live there may be a specialist organic or partially organic food /health shop within a relatively comfortable travelling distance and these will usually stock produce from a number of different local producers as well as stocking some produce from further away with dry and pre-packaged foods from other countries. These smaller retail outlets along with some of the growers often provide a more personal service and many will also take orders by phone or e-mail as a “box” service and may deliver to market.  Frequently these outlets will also perform other functions providing a place where people will connect socially or perhaps find information regarding alternative therapies and other less mainstream groups or events. 
Above: Monthly Organic producers market at an Organic farm.  
Above: Organic cheese producer Grégoire Masse with his marbled Goat and Cows milk cheese.

Then we have one of the major drivers of growth in the Organic sector, the Supermarkets that have really started to come into their own in France over the last couple of years and recently some such as Auchan are pushing forwards providing a great range of interesting produce. Many people have fundamental objections to Supermarkets but the reality is that they are of great importance making available to the consumer types of organic produce that they wouldn’t be able to source elsewhere which has to be good for both peoples health and the environment where production takes place.
Photo above: Organic Spelt bread mix that can be used either by hand or in a bread machine.















Above Left: Organic pure pomegranate juice.  Right: Organic rice milk

This gives us more or less three different supply lines to the consumer all of which have an equal role to play in providing people with produce that is both kinder to the environment and healthy to use or eat either of which should be a good enough reason to buy organic wherever possible.

It should be mentioned that an argument that is frequently made is that not everyone can afford to buy organic produce but this really isn’t the case and although it may not be possible to “go completely organic” it is well within most people’s budget to make a large proportion of their purchases organic. It may require some changes in lifestyle, perhaps trying different meals that use different ingredients and avoiding fast food. Reducing meat, poultry and dairy consumption will save money and provide health benefits as well as reducing the burden on land use.


With over 40% of consumers in France making some organic purchases every week and 10% on a daily basis in 2015 the signs are encouraging and hopefully this will continue to grow. With pesticides and industrial food production being the major causes of environmental destruction leading to both habitat and species loss it’s something where we can all make a real difference just by changing what we buy. 

Together we can make a difference. 

Chris

Sunday, 28 February 2016

Soya bean cultivation in France

As if things weren’t bad enough already Soya seems set to be the latest money generator for the people that exploit the cereal lands of France 


Click on photos to enlarge






It was some 30 years ago that Soya bean trials were first made in my region of Poitou-Charentes but at that time it wasn’t economically worthwhile and it was cheaper to import from abroad. As the dominate producers, (Brazil, Argentina and the United States), moved to growing Genetically Modified Soya and imports swelled as a result of an ever increasing demand from the industrial production of both meat and poultry some thought there was an opportunity to try growing Soya again. With this in mind Eric Simon of the animal food manufacturer Alicoop, Pamproux along with some others approached Ségolène Royal, (then President of the Region), to provide assistance via additional Regional subsidies alongside those available from the CAP, (Common Agricultural Policy), for this crop. With the market price and subsidies combined it’s more profitable than sunflowers and in a couple of years regional production has exceeded 2000 hectares and is set to grow exponentially.








On the plus side it is a crop that like sunflowers can manage without irrigation. It also has no requirements for fungicides or insecticides, fixes nitrogen from the air in its root nodules and provides an alternative to the Genetically Modified alternatives that are imported, all of which in different circumstances would deserve our support.

So what’s the problem?

The simple answer is the vexed issue of the continuing decline of pollinators as a result of every last piece of half viable land being turned to the plough which was already bad enough in itself but it did at least have the small virtue of sunflowers that have usually been grown as the 4th crop that has to make up no less than 5% of the land surface of any given crop producer. If Soya replaces Sunflowers, of which there is every likelihood, it will leave much of the French countryside almost devoid of food in the summer for bees whether they are Honey bees, Bumble bees or Solitary species. The one thing Soya doesn’t have is flowers that open, they are small, remain closed and internally self pollinate. Add this to the other crops that are already grown over the largest land areas, that are wind pollinated and have no nectar, wheat, barley and maize and it’s clear that it’s an expanding “green desert”, pleasing on eye to those that don’t understand but a catastrophe for our pollinating insects.





Chris



Friday, 19 December 2014

Harriers and their protection

It seems such a waste to restrict some of my articles to a limited audience when this blog and the web sites are viewed around the world and so I'm starting to put some on the web site.


This is Harriers and their protection from an article in 2014 for Living Magazine which is an English language magazine covering Poitou-Charentes, Dordogne, Vendée and Haute-Vienne in south west France.

The plains of Poitou-Charentes and Vendée whether they be the high open windswept areas such as those characterises by the areas to the north west and west of Poitiers towards Thouars and Parthenay or the vast low open wetlands of the Marais poitevin and coastline are especially suited to certain birds, some of which are under severe pressure at the European and National level making our region particularly important for their continued well being..............      

Living Magazine



Chris

Wednesday, 17 December 2014

Thistles and Dandelions

Very few people are neutral when it comes to certain native plants, (or weeds as they are often known as), especially the more robust and common types such as Dandelions and Thistles and I certainly don’t want them in my vegetable or flower beds. However they along with a few other native plants form the most important natural source of nutrition for many of our butterflies, bees, hoverflies and other flying insects growing as they do in a vast range of different habitats and are worth a second thought before trying to chop them down or poison them at every opportunity as is sadly the case in an increasingly tidy and over managed landscape here in France.

Click on pictures to enlarge.



Of course I don’t expect for one minute that anyone will suddenly think “Oh, I must grow some thistles or sow a dandelion patch” especially if they live in an urban environment or in very close proximity to their neighbours but I would like to encourage anyone with some land or with larger gardens to leave a few thistles and to perhaps let dandelions flower for a while just to see for themselves just how beneficial they are and how many different creatures use them.  



I also leave the seed heads to stand on all the plants in our fields which provide food for seed eating insects and birds throughout the autumn and winter months as well as providing a depth of ground cover for the birds that require it.




With this in mind I've compiled a simple web page with some photos of thistles and insects that have been mainly taken on our land.     CLICK HERE

Chris

Monday, 17 November 2014

Very poor Honey harvest 2014

Churning out bad news isn’t fun but there is no avoiding the fact that honey yields continue more or less year on year to reduce in both my part and many other parts of France. This has nothing to do with any real or imaginary issues with honey bee populations but is simply a result of the amount of nectar that is available for any single bee colony to collect.


These days increasingly large swathes of France are used for growing cereals where it is the main use of the countryside.  I know I’ve said this many times but it’s fundamental in understanding what is happening with just about every non-woodland species you can think of being affected and needless to say honey bees are no exception. As a result of this massive change in the landscape honey bees and their keepers have become increasingly dependent on a couple of crops to produce surplus harvestable honey due to the loss of native habitat and related flora. This isn’t the same as a bee colony having enough for its own survival which it usually will have but about producing an excess that the bee keeper can remove.

Where I live there are essentially three main possible sources that can provide harvestable honey or at least the bulk of it.  These are Oil seed rape, Sweet Chestnut and Sunflower but all three are relatively short flowering and subject to weather conditions being right.

Right conditions in the case of Oil seed rape means a temperature of 16°C or more with good bee flying weather. As Oil seed rape usually flowers here in late March / April these conditions are often not met or perhaps only for a few hours in the afternoon. The flowers last from three to six weeks depending on the weather, (they will last longer in poor wet weather). Another issue with Oil seed rape is that the colonies need to have grown enough to really work the flowers when conditions are right.

The right conditions for Sweet Chestnut are simply long hot dry days, 20 to 25°C being ideal with a flowering time here usually around the second half of June / first half of July. Unfortunately in recent years it has tended to rain a fair amount in this period and heavy rain finishes the flowers off completely. The flowers last a couple of weeks or just a little longer.

Click on photos to enlarge.



The right conditions for Sunflowers to produce a decent yield are more complex and depend on both regular rainfalls while they are growing, then fine weather with a temperature of at least 25°C to produce a good nectar flow. The flowers last a couple of weeks or just a little longer and will be in flower between July and September depending on when sown.



Of course some people will have more favourable conditions and depend less on these three sources if they live in or close to a town, village or hamlet with an abundance of other flowers within flying range, sadly not the case for me although mercifully we do have our own three hectares with quite a lot of bramble and other honey bee flowers.

This year conditions just weren’t favourable for the three main sources where I live and the result was a honey harvest that produced about 25% of what it ought to be. Not a disaster personally but worrying as this is the way the countryside is going and it will lead to commercial producers quitting in even larger numbers. Crazy because we are continually being told that there aren’t going to be enough bees to pollinate the crops but it has to be understood that we need more than the agricultural crops to sustain our bees unless we are to become like large parts of the USA shipping the bees round the country in greater and greater numbers and loosing them in equally large numbers. Recent studies are showing that the best place for bees and many other species is in peri-urban situations but these are not usually places where it’s possible to have concentrations of hives.

So thinking positively and working with what I’ve got I’ve been raising, splitting and planting hundreds, (thousands), more plants in our fields to increase the quantity of bee / insect friendly flowers which if nothing else will look nice and provide the variety of nutritional sources that honey bees need to be healthy and at the same time be beneficial to a whole range of other creatures.


Chris

Sunday, 16 November 2014

Not so much a secret as just not talked about.

Some years ago I was out with a couple of friends doing a bit of birding and generally poking about in the countryside as one does when we saw one of those fields that had recently been sprayed with Glyphosate and had turned that lovely characteristic rusty orange colour which triggered yet another conversation about the use of toxic substances in agriculture.


Click on photo to enlarge.



One of the people I was with works in the agricultural sector in the UK and can be a bit of a wind up merchant and I’m never sure whether he is being serious or not. Anyway he does understand the sector as an insider which is always useful, especially as trying to get a straight honest answer from farmers where I live is a total waste of time. Somehow or another during the course of this conversation he mentioned that wheat is sprayed with glyphosate, (Roundup),  in the UK as a pre-harvest crop desiccation, that is to kill off the crop to enable uniform and rapid drying just before harvesting. I have to say that at the time I wasn’t sure whether I believed him as it seemed to be such a ridiculous and stupid idea but it transpires that this has been happening for a long time and not only on wheat and not only with glyphosate, (for potatoes carfentrazone-ethyl is used). The majority of Oil seed rape in the UK is also sprayed, (up to 80%), and much of this also goes into the human food chain.

Is this an issue? Well yes it most certainly is because it turns out that Glyphosate residues are to be found in biscuits, bread and other cereal products according to the UK governments’ pesticide sampling reports. There are a number of independent studies that indicate harmful effects from Glyphosate ingestion such as one from Denmark that showed that the health of pigs was being adversely affected by eating feeds containing elevated - but still legal - levels of glyphosate. There are also a growing number of people that believe there may be a connection with this and the increasing number of people with wheat intolerance, (not Coeliac disease which is an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine that occurs in genetically predisposed people of all ages).

Of course Monsanto makers of Roundup dispute that there are any possible harmful effects from Glyphosate and insist that the herbicide is safe BUT then they would say that wouldn’t they?

As far as I can ascertain this specific type of spraying isn’t practiced in France or not to any great extent due to more favourable climatic conditions for natural ripening and drying although it is used on a massive scale for preparing fields for cultivation and domestically in peoples’ gardens.


Glyphosate was first marketed as a herbicide in the 1970’s as Roundup and is now has global market dominance. 

Whatever else you may think about this product it certainly shouldn't be in our food.

Chris

Saturday, 7 June 2014

Honey bee populations in France – some facts and figures

It’s very difficult to get accurate information or an accurate perspective when it comes to the subject of Honey bee populations and this is for a number of reasons that are mostly obvious for anyone that is willing to take a dispassionate view or at least try.


The reason a dispassionate view is required is due to the simple fact that almost everyone involved with honey bees has an agenda, no doubt I have as well but I’ll try to stick to the facts in so far as they can be separated from the modern day myths that are taking over the world and try to be clear when I am speculating or perhaps expressing an opinion.

I find it quite extraordinary in this age of science and technology that far from diminishing the number of myths fed by disingenuous or downright stupid information sources is actually increasing at an alarming rate and the subject of honey bees has now become a gathering place for all manner of people to climb aboard without any real clue about the subject matter and who probably don’t know a honey bee from a hoverfly. Then there is the not so small matter of the gravy train that has been generated with so many people that have their employment dependent on there being problems with honey bees. Huge sums of money are sloshing around from all manner of sources with some of that coming from the pesticide industry. Even Avaaz an online petition provider is asking for donations to fund “an independent research program into what is killing our bees” but when you look you can see it’s anything but impartial and certainly not accurate. Put all of this together and the stage is set for a Whitehall farce of epic proportions with all manner of scams and vested interests at every turn.

From the outset when trying to assess the number of managed colonies in France we need to be realistic and accept that all we can hope for are approximate numbers as will become clear. This is in part due to how hives are registered here.

Before the 1st of January 2010 a person could have up to 10 populated bee hives without any registration or formalities what so ever.

From the 1st of January 2010 with a view to better monitoring of bee populations it became a requirement to register all populated bee hives and their locations starting with the first colony.

Fiscally with up to 40 hives a person pays no social charges, (these are normally around 28% of income in agriculture), although you do have to declare the number of your hives with your tax return and some tax offices may charge an annual tax per hive, normally a few Euro for each hive per annum.

From 40 to 200 hives you are required to pay what is called MSA solidarity which is a reduced charge that provides no benefits such as pension contributions. It is assumed that people with this number of hives either have another income source or benefit from free healthcare.

Over 200 hives and you are treated as a full business and pay full charges via MSA which is the collector of contributions for health, pension and other State charges for people involved in agriculture which includes apiculture.

With human nature being what it is the system encourages keepers to keep their numbers of colonies restricted or perhaps even to under declare. In fact it is generally assumed by the inspectors I have met that as many as  50% of the hives in France aren’t declared and there are undoubtedly a number of people with less than 10 hives in rural areas that don’t even know that they should be declaring them now. All the studies that are available for the number of keepers, number of hives and production of honey per hive annually are in fact no more than broad estimations.

With all this in mind we need to look at the last 35 years partly because this is the period where we have the best records and it is also because this period has seen the most changes for Honey bees in France. Needless to say it’s complex with a number of important overlapping events and changes with little if any statistics until the early 90’s.

Basic figures.

Estimates put the number of beekeepers owning at least one hive in 2010 at 41,836 as opposed to 69,237 in 2004 and 84,214 in 1994 an overall decline of 50% in keepers; however the number of hives has only declined by 21% from 1,351,991 in 1994 to 1,074,218 in 2010. There has been a greater reduction in actual honey production of 28% due to reduced yields.

A third of all French bee keepers are over 61 years old with the majority of the remainder being more than 40 years old, rarely do young people choose the activity. Most people involved in apiculture in France have another income source that is often but not always in agriculture.

There are several possible reasons why the number of people keeping bees has fallen in recent years and we only have to look at the age groups above to realise it’s not something that younger people are flocking to anymore and this applies to agriculture in general.

It’s labour intensive and far from the easiest way to earn a living or even gain a supplementary income in the modern world and faces stiff competition from countries that can produce at a lower price especially since the Single European Market and the opening up of the Eastern European Countries plus the Countries that made up the former Yugoslavia.

The arrival of the Varroa mite in 1982 initially had some impact on increased colony failures which was in part compounded by over zealous use of pesticides and other substances in hives to control them.

Gaucho, (Imidaclopride), a Neonicotinoid, was introduced agriculturally as a seed treatment in 1992 mainly for Sunflowers and Maize and along with other Neonicotinoids in use since then have been widely thought to negatively impact honey bees, (currently banned in the EU since 2013 and not used with crops this year 2014).

Glyphosate, (often known by the trade name Roundup), a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide used to kill plants has also become the number one herbicide in both agriculture, communal areas and domestic gardens during this period. It also contains substantial added substances dependant on required use such as Surfactants which are compounds that lower the surface tension (or interfacial tension) between two liquids or between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants may act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming agents, and dispersants. Regardless of any toxic effects these may have it’s clear that they have and are playing a major role in changing the nature of the habitat with a massive reduction in native plant species.

Throughout this same period we have seen the greatest change in crops and habitat ever with hundreds of thousands of kilometres of hedgerow and vast hectarages of heath-land and hay meadow removed to make way for larger and larger fields of Maize, Oil Seed Rape and other cereals. There has also been an intensification of the way that Honey bees are exploited such as to supply the luxury market with products such as Royal Jelly and pollen or the transportation of colonies from crop to crop to provide pollination for monoculture in the broad sense with some 60,000 hives being hired out and transported simply for pollination purposes each year. Transporting populated hives also takes on an increasing scale to produce more single nectar honeys that can be sold at higher prices. Overall there has been what I would call a trend towards industrialisation of honey bees in much the same way as we have and continue to industrialise and exploit our food production.

Additionally there has been a large increase in the number of honey bees imported either as Queens, packages or on frames with a corresponding loss of native bees. Any or all of these may be damaging to colony survival, Queen Longevity or honey yields although as the INRA studies have shown untreated and unmanaged honey bee colonies with local bees survive on average for about seven and half years.

Interestingly Organic apiaries more than doubled in the period 2004 – 2010 from 144 to 360 with 69,495 hives but some of these will use permitted treatments in their hives. Only 2.6% of French Beekeepers are known to use no treatments at all in their hives including the so called natural treatments.

Permitted treatments in France are:

TAU-FLUVALINATE

THYMOL


I realise this is a bit lengthy but I’ve tried to keep it as short as possible whist at the same time highlighting the main features and facts and as it stands much more could have been included. We also mustn’t loose sight of the fact that it’s completely natural for bee colonies to fail at a rate that would more or less match their creation. Needless to say this is not a straight line and losses will vary from year to year as it does with other species.

Some other links which may be useful: