New bee documentary: MORE THAN HONEY! !

[Ginger and Mark de Paris]

Let everyone know about it! it is a fantastic documentary !

[Chelsea McFarland]

More Than Honey is available to watch on Netflix here:
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/More_Than_Honey/70275188?trkid=2361637&leid=534

[Kevin Pfeiffer]

Has this just arrived in the States? The beekeeper with the African bees that he keeps in the desert — is that one of you all? (Sorry, I can’t recall his name.) In my memory he was in southern CA, but perhaps down by San Diego…

The film was well-received here in Germany.

I can also strongly recommend the book “The Beekeeper’s Lament” by Hannah Nordhaus. John Miller, the same commercial beekeeper that appears in the film, plays a large role in her book, which IMO offers a more sympathetic and nuanced portrait of the plight faced by commercial keepers today.

-Kevin

[susan rudnicki]

HI, Kevin—Susan here again—actually, the premier of this film, More Than Honey, was Aug 9 and 10 in Beverly Hills. I was called by the director’s staff to ask if I would appear at the showings to answer questions from the audience about beekeeping, especially the use and rescue of feral bees—as shown in the film. Marcus Imhoof, the director, was keen to be accessible to the public in the Q and A afterward, but is not a beek himself. His expertise is in the technical aspects of filming in such close proximity to the bee society. He called me, as the outreach person for education efforts at the BackwardsBeekeepers, and I was pleased to be able to tell people about our work and the value of feral bee genetics. I seem to remember the keeper you mention being in Southern Arizona. (by the way, I was not surprised his bees absconded! I would not take a just extracted hive on a bumpy truck ride over washboard dirt roads, the delicate combs just barely roped into their frames and expect the bees to NOT abandon the hive. I try to use more retention bands for each comb—rubber bands, as it happens—and do as little jostling as possible)
Regarding Mr Miller and his difficulties—our current land of almost a million acres of almonds in the Central Valley of CA is a most egregiously unsustainable model. California is locked in a battle with neighboring states of the South West over the distribution of water supplies from the Colorado River. We are in the midst of a prolonged drought (4 inches for the whole year in ’13, and same predicted for ’14) at a time of rapid climate change. Our governor just approved a preliminary law to increase fracking of oil and gas in CA that is a profligate user of potable water supplies already strained. Overdrafting of water aquifers in the Central Valley has led to land subsidence of 27 feet in some areas and steep drops in the water table. Considering the growth in population projected for CA by 2030 to 48 million (now at 37 mill.) the constraints are untenable. Mr Miller has more working against his business than CCD, varroa, and pesticides. Farming itself is a bloated, profit driven, ecosystem ignoring paradigm. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is trying to educate farmers and pollinator keepers (many native pollinators are as efficient, or more efficient, than Apis mellifera) about the strategies for introducing foraging habitat into farming operations to keep pollinators ON SITE, rather than truck them around the country. This can result in a more robust, healthier, and resilient pollinator population as well as reduce costs. In the Fall, 2013 issue of “Wings” (essays on invertebrate conservation) “the Art and Science of Restoring Pollinator Habitat” by Eric Lee-Mader details the steps to do this and some examples Xerces is collaborating on. (guides are available at http://www.xerces.org/pollinator-conservation) In short, areas between rows of orchard trees and bordering farming fields are prepared and planted with appropriate native annual and perennial flowering plants and shrubs. All my reading convinces me that this ecosystem mimicking model is sorely needed in the modern farming methods. Our fossil fuel intensive input model is not going to be useful for the long run.
Hope this gives you more to discuss! Susan Rudnicki

[Kevin Pfeiffer]

actually, the premier of this film, More Than Honey, was Aug 9 and 10 in Beverly Hills.

Ah, the US premiere. It’s initial release, in Germany, etc. was in the fall of 2012; I’ve seen it twice now.

You have to remember, though, that Mr. Miller didn’t singlehandedly create this “egregiously unsustainable model”, but was more or less pulled into it. There are certain parallels that Imhoof draws between the apiary history of his family and the Millers (although the specific details are different), each of which dealt with the mechanization of farming in a different way; today the Imhoofs are no longer beekeepers, but Miller’s family still is. In such individual situations there is rarely a clearly right or wrong answer — and this is brought across in greater detail in Nordhaus’s book, I think. (See link to review below.)

our current land of almost a million acres of almonds in the Central Valley of CA is a most egregiously unsustainable model

Yes, but as the book points out, the CA almond farmers took on this crop and multiplied its productivity yield vs. established practice eight-fold. That’s a powerful economic incentive.

The approach to orchard management promoted by Xerces reminds me of the traditional European “Streuobstwiese” (meadow orchard) — these are likewise rich invertebrate habitats and the general trend today in Germany is to try to preserve or restore these where possible.

Best wishes,

Kevin

Here a useful review of Nordhaus’s book (by a “beek”):
http://www.hannahnordhaus.com/the-beekeepers-lament-reviews-alternet/

• This reply was modified 12 years, 4 months ago by Kevin Pfeiffer. Reason: typo
• This reply was modified 12 years, 4 months ago by Kevin Pfeiffer. Reason: added link
• This reply was modified 12 years, 4 months ago by Kevin Pfeiffer. Reason: edit to opening

[susan rudnicki]

Hi, Kevin—your points are well taken, regarding the economics and personal choices on crop production. In the end our economic reasons for doing any of the things we choose are going to be shot down by the ecosystem limits on ALL citizens. I am not looking to blame any particular company—they all seem liable to make the same decisions given short term planning and pursuit of profit.
The LA Times ran a story in the Business section just yesterday, Jan 12, “Calif. Almonds, the Toast of the World” detailing the explosive growth of acreage devoted to the crop and diminishing water supplies—but, in the typical weak reporting we always hear, lamenting the “sudden and mysterious death of billions of bees….CCD” The media are loathe to reveal there is a LOT known about this and it is no longer “mysterious” The issues are just many-fold, not a single “cause” and media does not like complicated answers. Quite a few of the baseline problems lie with the beekeepers’ own multiple insults to the bee’s immune system—not a pretty picture of beekeeping.
It is heartening to hear of the European ‘meadow orchard’ model. If only our institutions were so enlightened. The EU ban on neonicotinoids for the next 2 years, though perhaps not long enough to be useful, is at least better than our own agency’s blocking reform/regulation. The EPA tells us in 5 years it will have results from a “study” (the study conducted by the prime culprit, Bayer Crop Science) and then will decide if it is worth it to rein in the use of these awful avian, amphibian, arthropod poisons.
Thanks for your useful responses! Susan

[Kirk Anderson]

This is a great Movie!! I recommend every one watchs it
kirkobeeo

[Author]

Posts