Dayton issues 'bee-friendly' rules on insecticide use
Gov. Mark Dayton issued broad new guidelines Friday designed to restrict the use of a controversial pesticide that has been implicated in the decline of honeybees and other pollinators.
Standing in the Agriculture-Horticulture building at the State Fair, next door to an exhibit hall filled with live bees and honey jars, the governor said his executive order would make Minnesota a leader in protecting pollinators.
“We can show the nation how better to both farm and enjoy nature and have great lawns and everything, but also be cognizant of the impact of neonicotinoids.”
Under Dayton’s order, farmers and nursery owners who want to use one of the compounds, known as neonicotinoids, will have to prove to the Department of Agriculture that they face “imminent danger of significant crop loss” without them.
Dayton ordered state agencies to develop “pollinator-friendly” practices for maintaining state-owned properties like office buildings, parks, prisons, landfills and the sprawling grounds of the State Capitol.
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Beekeepers and researchers greeted the executive order enthusiastically.
Bob Sitko, a beekeeper from Stillwater who has seen entire hives wiped out, attended Dayton’s announcement and expressed his gratitude.
“On behalf of my 100,000 bees, I thank you,” Sitko called out to the governor after the news conference.
Marla Spivak, a University of Minnesota professor who is one of the world’s top pollinator researchers, also praised the announcement.
“Some may think these actions go too far, but honestly, I don’t know a farmer, a nursery operator, a grower, a pesticide applicator, that wants to kill a bee or a monarch [butterfly] while they’re controlling their crop pests,” she said. “These steps will help us all be better stewards of the lands that we’re trying to be.”
State Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson said the new guidelines will, on balance, be good for Minnesota food production.
“All of us can appreciate how critical pollinators are,” Frederickson said. “They’re critical to agriculture, for plant reproduction and to produce the food we eat every day and need to survive.” Frederickson noted that honeybee pollination contributes an estimated $17 billion in value to U.S. agriculture each year. “Yet we know the pollinator population is in decline.”
At last! I guy that "gets" it!!!
Way to go!!!
Three cheers for the gov.
I'm not too sure there are too many commercial products that are really safe for honey bees unfortunately. Their deaths are often the unintended consequence for using these products. It would be nice if we could selectively rid ourselves of undesirable insects. Unfortunately poisons to kill roaches, mosquitoes, fleas and ticks also kill bees if they happen to come in contact with it.
That is too true I fear. Northern Minnesota and North Dakota has had a very wet summer, and while Zika may not be a concern, West Nile is an actual threat with sickness (around 30 or so in ND I believe) and even a few deaths from it. I have no idea how the Indians or the plains folk did it back when, but the mosquitos up here are horrible. Being outside for everyone up here is a constant battle of not being covered in welts nearly instantaneously...no joke. Our little town of 1,600 runs a pick-up truck blowing chemical all over town every night from sunset to sunup, that it doesn't rain during the season. That is enough to enable folks to be outside. Honestly without it, the health risk would be extreme beyond what I think most people realize.
And that's just mosquitos.