By RACHEL LANE

D.C. Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Flowers might be the key to saving bumblebees, but pesticides aren't helping, according to new research released by the University of Guelph that neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides, hamper bumblebee queens’ ability to feed and reproduce.

The study found the queens were 25 percent less likely to start a new hive. The study is the first to focus on how neonicotinoids impact bumblebees.

Paul Schlegel, director of Energy and Environment Policy at the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), said no one denies pesticides impact pollinators, but members of the AFBF who keep honeybees report that other issues seem to be a bigger concern. Varroa mites, for example, can attack a colony until it is too weak to survive.

One of the beekeepers Schlegel spoke to said he manages for pesticides and for varroa mites, but his queens are still dying. Schlegel said focusing on one issue impacting pollinators, such as pesticides, would mean the other possible issues are ignored.

Many of the people focused specifically on pesticides as the cause are likely trying to eliminate pesticide use completely and are using a legitimate concern – the declining bee population – to focus on their own agendas, he opined.

If farmers apply pesticides in a manner inconsistent with the label, it is an issue for pollinators, Schlegel said, but pesticides benefit farmers, too, and those two sides need to be balanced. Right now, farmers can participate in voluntary conservation programs like ones provided by the USDA, specifically the Conservation Reserve Program, he said. Voluntary programs have been shown to work better than government-mandated measures.

“Farmers are open and receptive to finding ways to facilitate and help the bees. There’s no question about that. We clearly need pollinators,” he said.

Seed coating, usually a neonicotinoid, was investigated a few years ago and no cause for concern was found in using it as a seed coating, he added. Dr. Reed Johnson, with the Bee Lab at The Ohio State University, said neonicotinoids have been shown to negatively impact a variety of pollinators, including bumblebees, honeybees and butterflies.

Farmers rely heavily on pollinators for crops like almonds, squash and melons, even soybeans to some extent, he explained. Farmers can rent bee colonies from beekeepers for pollination purposes. In the last 25 years, the cost of renting a colony has increased from about $25 to about $130 per colony, he said.

Johnson said there are things farmers can do to help. The single most important thing is to plant flowers that aren’t treated with pesticides. The nutrients from the flowers might help strengthen the bees to better fight off the effects of the pesticides, bacteria and even aphids. Flowering plants become particularly important during the mid- to late summer and fall months.

“I think it’s possible for farmers to completely mitigate harm from pesticides by providing bees with more food resources during critical times of the year,” he said.

Tiffany Finck-Haynes, senior food futures campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said pollinators are responsible for one of every three bites of food people eat. “If we lose pollinators, we basically lose food and that sustains our society,” she said.

She said pesticides are contributing to the decline in bees and farmers needn’t be reliant on pesticides to control pests. There are other ways to treat for insects. She said other causes for the decline in the bee population include lost habitat, disease, pests and other stressors.

She noted there are organizations across the country that offer assistance to farmers to learn about pollinators and pest management practices that don’t include pesticides.

On average, beekeepers lose an average of about 40 percent of bees annually. Finck-Haynes said some native pollinators, like the native rusty patch bee and the monarch butterfly, have lost about 90 percent of their populations in the last few decades.

She added that bees are an indicator species and said with the population in decline, it means something else is wrong with the ecosystem around the bees.