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<v Speaker 1>Right now, let's say good morning too the Valley Hives.

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<v Speaker 1>Keith Roberts, Good morning.

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<v Speaker 2>Keith Amy King.

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<v Speaker 1>How are you doing great? I wanted to talk to

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<v Speaker 1>you because last week we had a story about a

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<v Speaker 1>couple of big problems with the bees, and one of

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<v Speaker 1>those problems is causing the others. So I wanted to

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<v Speaker 1>ask you first about the number of bees continues to

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<v Speaker 1>decline and that's causing the other problem that we're going

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<v Speaker 1>to talk about. Can we talk a little bit about

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<v Speaker 1>why that's happening. I know you have some thriving hives

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<v Speaker 1>up in Chatsworth at the Valley Hive, but the bee

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<v Speaker 1>population is declining.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity

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<v Speaker 2>to talk about this crisis. So very Unfortunately, because of

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<v Speaker 2>what's going on in Washington, the oxygen has been sucked

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<v Speaker 2>out of the room, and not a whole lot of

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<v Speaker 2>media is talking about this. But across the nation, we're

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<v Speaker 2>facing a record high loss of colonies. We're talking about

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<v Speaker 2>sixty two percent of hives across the country have collapsed,

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<v Speaker 2>and some operations are reporting between eighty to one hundred percent.

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<v Speaker 2>They've lost all of their hives and they're not going

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<v Speaker 2>to be able to recover. This has been absolutely devastating,

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<v Speaker 2>and what is particularly frightening about it is that we

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<v Speaker 2>still don't know for sure what has occurred to push

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<v Speaker 2>these numbers into this region. So we went from an average.

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<v Speaker 2>So a little bit of backstory. Back in seven we

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<v Speaker 2>were having about a fifteen percent loss of hives, and

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<v Speaker 2>then because of the four p's, the pests, the pathogens,

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<v Speaker 2>the pesticide, and the poor nutrition, the numbers went up

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<v Speaker 2>to about forty percent. And now something has occurred in

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<v Speaker 2>the last six months to push that loss another twenty

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<v Speaker 2>percent into the sixty percent region, which is completely unsustainable.

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<v Speaker 2>More than one hundred and thirty fruits and vegetables, thirty

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<v Speaker 2>percent of everything we eat is dependent on honey bees,

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<v Speaker 2>and so this is a crisis and not a whole

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<v Speaker 2>lot of people are talking about it.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, and Keith, I like, is there any substitute? I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>you need the bees, that's what they do, they pollinate.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, but if there are no bees, the pollination

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<v Speaker 1>just can't happen, or there's no other way to do it.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, there's not going to be on unlike places in

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<v Speaker 2>China where they have to do pollination by hand, that's

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<v Speaker 2>not going to be feasible here at scale at all.

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<v Speaker 2>Honey Bees are too important to our way of getting

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<v Speaker 2>food on the table. And beekeepers, quite frankly, are the

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<v Speaker 2>redheaded stepchild of the agricultural industry. And they don't get

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<v Speaker 2>the attention that they deserve because it's such a niche industry.

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<v Speaker 2>But they need help and they need support and this

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<v Speaker 2>and this is crippling to not only the bee keeper

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<v Speaker 2>but to our agriculture. And if people think that the

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<v Speaker 2>cost of eggs is high, it's about to get real across.

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<v Speaker 1>The board because if the bees aren't pollinating that, like

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<v Speaker 1>one of the big ones right now that we're talking

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<v Speaker 1>about is that for the almond crop, which is a

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<v Speaker 1>multi billion dollar business in California, they need those bees

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<v Speaker 1>because bloom season is right around the corner.

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<v Speaker 2>It's now, it's right now, okay, and you're out, and

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<v Speaker 2>you're absolutely right. They haven't gotten enough bees.

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<v Speaker 3>And if you're an almond grower, you.

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<v Speaker 2>Can't even get crop insurance unless you can prove you

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<v Speaker 2>have so many hives per here. And so yeah, this

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<v Speaker 2>is this is devastating and just in bees alone, just

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<v Speaker 2>the bee keeping alone, just a little bit of scale,

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<v Speaker 2>This represents about two hundred and twenty four million dollars

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<v Speaker 2>of loss and the economic impact across agriculture is going

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<v Speaker 2>to be around six hundred and thirty four point seven

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<v Speaker 2>million dollars.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, and then Keith, the other thing that I mentioned

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<v Speaker 1>that the problem there are two problems. One is that

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<v Speaker 1>the bee population is God, who knew sixty two percent

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<v Speaker 1>of the hives of clips. That's just crazy numbers. But

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<v Speaker 1>that has led to another problem, and that's the shortage

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<v Speaker 1>of bees, which is leading to people stealing beehives.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, absolutely disgusting.

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<v Speaker 2>I think we've all seen the westerns of cattle wrestlers, right, yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>and today twenty twenty five, what is it.

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<v Speaker 3>It's bee wrestling.

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<v Speaker 2>And what's really sick about it is that it's where

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<v Speaker 2>it's basically people who are already bee keepers obviously, because

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<v Speaker 2>you need to have eat infrastructu to be able to

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<v Speaker 2>pick up these pallettes of beest. Like these hives are palletized.

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<v Speaker 2>There's four hives to a palette, and they're coming in

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<v Speaker 2>and at night and they're and.

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<v Speaker 3>Because these these.

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<v Speaker 2>Pallets are in the orchard and they can be visible

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<v Speaker 2>from the road, they kind of mark where they're down,

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<v Speaker 2>and then they come back at night, they load them up,

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<v Speaker 2>and you have thirty hives stolen here, fifty hives stolen there,

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<v Speaker 2>two hundred hives stolen there, and something else that unfortunately

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<v Speaker 2>bee keepers are getting hit with.

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<v Speaker 1>And then Keith, so then the people who are stealing

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<v Speaker 1>the hives are going and selling them like or renting

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<v Speaker 1>them to the farmers or something, because the farmers desperately

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<v Speaker 1>need them for their crops.

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<v Speaker 2>So they're going to either take them back to their operation.

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<v Speaker 2>They're going to take the bees out and put them

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<v Speaker 2>in their boxes, or they're going to paint over all

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<v Speaker 2>of the branding and the markings of the rightful owner

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<v Speaker 2>and then put them back out as up there that

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<v Speaker 2>they were their hives to begin with. And it's just

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<v Speaker 2>an absolute tragedy.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, So, Keith, I know, I mean, it just sounds

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't realize that the problem was this bad. Is

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<v Speaker 1>there anything that we can do aside from setting up

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<v Speaker 1>a little high in our backyard.

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<v Speaker 2>Really if you want to be more effective? And this

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<v Speaker 2>kind of sounds corny and cliche, but it's truth. Buy

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<v Speaker 2>American honey. Make sure that when you go to the store,

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<v Speaker 2>you're buying honey that is made in the USA, and

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<v Speaker 2>that is going to directly help beekeepers. It's going to

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<v Speaker 2>put money directly in the hands of beekeepers. Another thing

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<v Speaker 2>that you can do is doing what you're doing right

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<v Speaker 2>now talk about it, because, like I said at the

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<v Speaker 2>very beginning, this is not getting the media attention it deserves.

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<v Speaker 2>So when Colony Collapsus Order first came on in two

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<v Speaker 2>thousand and seven, you you heard it everywhere, right, remember

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<v Speaker 2>all the stories about the collapse and everybody was getting

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<v Speaker 2>in on it. There were ads from Basket Robbins. I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>it was everybody knew that the honeybee was in trouble.

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<v Speaker 2>And now it's the problem has gotten even worse and

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<v Speaker 2>you're not hearing about it. So be sure that you're

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<v Speaker 2>that you're telling people about it, and so spread the

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<v Speaker 2>word and support American beekeepers by getting American honey and

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<v Speaker 2>keep doing what you're doing, Amy, and.

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<v Speaker 3>Just spread spread this word. Talk to your.

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<v Speaker 2>Congress person and make sure that we can get some

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<v Speaker 2>attention from the government to help bee keepers and.

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<v Speaker 3>And try to subsidize some of their losses.

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<v Speaker 1>Absolutely. Keith Roberts with the Valley Hive and Chatsworth, it's

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<v Speaker 1>really a cool place if you want to go and

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<v Speaker 1>check out the bees and their nursery. It's a beautiful

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<v Speaker 1>place to go. And thanks so much for all that information, Keith.

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<v Speaker 1>We'll keep it the spotlight.

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<v Speaker 3>Bees.

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<v Speaker 1>Bees are friends, we need them.

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<v Speaker 3>Thank you so much for this opportunity, and that you

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<v Speaker 3>take care.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, you got it. It's just that is just

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<v Speaker 1>so freaky, and you know it just it's that whole

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<v Speaker 1>circle of life thing that one thing is dependent on

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<v Speaker 1>the next, and the next thing is dependent on the next.

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<v Speaker 2>And what's going to happen if they're all gone with

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<v Speaker 2>our food supply? I mean, that's really scary. Yeah, no kidding,