Varroa Mite Hammering California Almond Industry

SAN JOSE, Calif. - (KRT) - Gene Brandi has seen the enemy and, boy, is it ugly. Yellowish brown with eight legs, a hairy body and a voracious appetite, the pin-head size Varroa mite is systematically destroying bee colonies. It has become public enemy No.1 among beekeepers in California and across the country.

The tiny parasite, which attaches itself to the backs of bees and literally sucks out their insides, has destroyed about one-quarter of Brandi's 1,000 hives. "People all over the world are researching ways to control the mite," said Brandi, who started keeping bees during his college days. "But the mite just seems to stay one step ahead of us."

It's not just beekeepers like Brandi who want to see the pest buzz off. The mite is causing panic among Golden State almond growers, who rely on bees and their pollinating magic to ensure fabulous yields of the golden brown nut. California grows 100 percent of the nation's crop and 80 percent of the world's. It is the state's biggest agricultural export, valued at $1.6 billion. Each year, almond growers rent beehives, park them in orchards and leave the bees to do their business. Growing almonds without them is like sky diving without a parachute. But the Varroa mite is complicating matters. When it was first discovered in the United States in the 1980s, beekeepers fought it with chemical strips that destroyed the mites without harming the bees. But now, generations later, the parasite has evolved into a super mite, seemingly immune to pesticides.

For beekeepers, it is heartbreaking. Many, like Brandi, have raised bees for decades. They develop bonds with the hives they've carefully nurtured to maturity. Before, when they would spy the mites piggybacking on their bees, beekeepers could take action. But now, with no way to combat the insects, they can only sit back and watch the hives slowly die. The mites, "weaken the bees and shorten their life spans," said Dave Sims, who raises bees in Yuba City, and has lost several hundred hives to the parasite. "Within about three to four months, a completely strong hive will go to a completely dead hive."

The losses have been widespread. At the American Beekeeping Federation's four-day conference in Reno this month, talk of the Varroa mite dominated the discussion. Some beekeepers reported losing as many as 40 percent of their hives to the tiny pest."

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