One Year Later, USDA Still Hasn't Funded Bee Research

There’s a lull in the Colony collapse disorder world at the moment. But things have been happening on the government front that are interesting. The $4 million grant we’ve talked about before that’s been waiting is a step closer to being granted as one of the three teams competing for the funds has been chosen to be the golden child. But the fat lady hasn’t sung yet and they have to go and explain more fully what it is they intend to do, and who will be doing it. (Isn’t that what a grant proposal is supposed to do? So who pays for the scientists to go to D.C. and stay at expensive hotels and eat well for a couple three days while all this goes on? Just guess.)

The way this has been handled should be an embarrassment to the USDA because they have mishandled nearly every aspect of this from beginning to end, including who they let bid, and then the reviews of the programs. Their only saving grace is that everyone of the groups vying for the funds are better qualified to handle this operation than those in charge. This certainly leaves a bad taste in the mouths of anyone trying to do business with this government agency.

The winning group heads to DC to defend their project shortly, and unless they royally screw up or the folks in charge don’t even show up, work should start later this summer when the money is available. A whole year to make this happen? Isn’t this absolutely outrageous?

But the farm bill has finally moved off center and it appears that no matter how much the administration dislikes the bill, and how much they positively bend the truth about their programs or negatively bend the truth about those of the opposition, a veto will be overridden because of bipartisan support in both houses and the money that congress wants to go to CCD research, and pollinator protection, will be set aside. Of course where all this money will come from remains to be seen since the cupboard is essentially bare but at least it’s on the books and all those who voted for it look good back home.

Specifically, the ARS...(Agriculture Research Service) the research arm of USDA has been appropriated...

• $3 million for each of fiscal years 2008-2012 for personnel, facilities, and additional research at the bee labs.
• $2.5 million for each of fiscal years 2008-2009 for other USDA labs in NY, FL, CA, UT and TX.
• $1.75 million for each of fiscal years 2008-2010 to identify the causes of CCD.
• $10 million for each of fiscal years 2008-2012 to CREES – Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service – for grants to investigate:
  • honey bee biology honey bee bioinformatics (what do you suppose that is?)
  • native bee crop pollination and habitat conservation
  • native bee taxonomy and ecology
  • pollination biology
  • sub-lethal effects of pesticides
  • effects of genetically modified crops
  • parasites and pathogens and their effects on pollinators
• $2.25 million for APHIS – The Animal, Plant Health and Inspection Service (the Regulators) – for each of fiscal years 2008-2012 to conduct a honey bee pest and pathogen surveillance program, and produce annual reports for the Secretary of Ag (remember him? ... the well-intentioned political appointee who has a bee guy tinkering in the lab somewhere?).

Other money was granted to specialty crop pollination and research to the tune of $315 million.

My friend Dick Johnston from New York, who is faster with the numbers than I am, figured out that there’s really only $74.25 million allocated for those who are equipped and potentially are involved with honey bee research.

The total farm bill comes to a hefty $307 billion over 5 years.

Still, almost $75 million over 5 years or so isn’t chicken feed. There’s other money out there too ... some from USDA’s other pockets, some from other government sources, and some from private sources that will help. Yet $15 million/year doesn’t come to a lot when you begin dividing it up among lots of scientists and researchers. One of the hidden costs you never see is that a typical university takes, when a professor is given a grant, upwards of 60% right off the top to cover overhead. 40% isn’t uncommon. So the government is subsidizing your state University to keep the lights on and the health insurance benefits paid. So that grant proposal the professor put in for, say $1 million really costs only $600,000 since the university takes the rest. Yet that professor gets the credit for the full monty here. Where’s the truth in all this?

I sure don’t know.

There’s a whole lot going on about new pesticides in Europe contributing to honey bee decline, and some of it is happening right here in the U.S., and there’s a dynamite paper to be published in the next week or so that’s not going to be well received by the beekeeping industry because of the self-made problems they have. It’ll get reviewed here as soon as the ink is dry.

And, to add a touch of mystery, the cell phone radiation thing is back ... and this time it has legs. Stay tuned.