Created: 5/30/2007 5:54:09 PM
Updated: 5/30/2007 7:17:21 PM
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ORLAND (NEWS CENTER) -- Colony Collapse Disease plagued the Honeybee population this spring. Now, Maine's blueberry growers are paying the price to get the bees they need to pollinate their fields.
Blueberry fields in Orland look empty now, but some of the most important work of the year is taking place. Hundreds of thousands of Honeybees are pollinating the fields.
GM Allen & Son has been growing blueberries for almost a century and has come to rely on having the bees it needs each summer.
But a disease called Bee Colony Collapse caused a severe bee shortage, driving up the price for the bees that are still around. The Allens still got their 800 hives, but paid at least an extra $20 for each one.
"Our Beekeeper, the guy we deal with, he didn't have any trouble like that, he took good care of his bees so that they didn't get infected," said Simeon Allen of GM Allen & Son. "So we felt pretty good all along and we weren't too scared about it."
The Allens have their bees trucked in from Pennsylvania. They plan to keep the hives in their fields for two more weeks.
Blueberry fields in Orland look empty now, but some of the most important work of the year is taking place. Hundreds of thousands of Honeybees are pollinating the fields.
GM Allen & Son has been growing blueberries for almost a century and has come to rely on having the bees it needs each summer.
But a disease called Bee Colony Collapse caused a severe bee shortage, driving up the price for the bees that are still around. The Allens still got their 800 hives, but paid at least an extra $20 for each one.
"Our Beekeeper, the guy we deal with, he didn't have any trouble like that, he took good care of his bees so that they didn't get infected," said Simeon Allen of GM Allen & Son. "So we felt pretty good all along and we weren't too scared about it."
The Allens have their bees trucked in from Pennsylvania. They plan to keep the hives in their fields for two more weeks.
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