Last week a beekeeper contacted me about a total bee kill as a result of the adjacent soybean field being sprayed with an insecticide. The applicator was not aware of the presence of the bee hives, even though the hives were registered on the FieldWatch® (https://fieldwatch.com/) Beecheck (https://beecheck.org/) apiary registry. Not taking a few minutes to look at the Beecheck apiary registry will cost the applicator over $5,000 to re-establish the bees and compensate for lost honey production.
This incident is a great reminder for producers of the importance registering bee hives and other sensitive crops through FieldWatch®. It is also a reminder for applicators to check Fieldwatch® prior to making applications.
In 2023, Betsy Danielson and Angie Rieck-Hinz wrote an excellent article with more information. This article also refers to a previous article by Betsy Danielson, Angie Rieck-Hinz, and Rebecca Vittetoe.
Links to this article are strongly encouraged, and this article may be republished without further permission if published as written and if credit is given to the author, Integrated Crop Management News, and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. If this article is to be used in any other manner, permission from the author is required. This article was originally published on July 10, 2024. The information contained within may not be the most current and accurate depending on when it is accessed.
- Field Agronomist in SE Iowa