Customer Reviews

Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis

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For several years, I've been hearing about the decline in honeybee populations around the world - but haven't heard the reason why. (Although I studied entomology in college, it's been years since my days were dedicated to following the lives of insects.) Fruitless Fall enlightened me to what's been going on (or sadly, not going on) in hives across the world. Along the way, it educated me about the history, art, and science of beekeeping, and clarified the unique & vital role honeybees play in the pollination of nearly all of our food crops - and predicts what the world might look like without them.

Rowan Jacobsen's investigation of why entire colonies of honeybees seem to be vanishing overnight reads a bit like a Patricia Cornwell detective novel: with Jacobsen playing the role of Cornwell's protaganist, identifying suspects (like varroa mites), and using science to reduce the suspect list down to the likely culprits. The payoff in the end might be less clear cut than a fictional murder investigation, but is just as satisfying a read.

Though some might consider the book as pessimistic, there is plenty of space in the pages of Fruitless Fall dedicated to efforts being made to change the current course and prevent a future of fruit trees hand pollinated by feathers or the disappearance of honey from our tables.

I've never like the cloying taste of the pasteurized honey I've bought in stores, but after reading Fruitless Fall I was inspired (like other reviewers) to try some raw, wild honey. My first spoonful out of a jar bought at my local farmers market revealed what I've been missing all these years - and what I hope my grandkids won't miss out on.

A former co-worker of mine turned me onto the amazing world of honey bees and at one time mentioned the unexplained disappearance of bees throughout the U.S. I had no idea the problem was this severe and that the outlook appears to be rather grim, unless proper steps are taken today to protect the future.

The author does a fantastic job of outlining the problem and possible causes of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) as well as providing a glimpse into the frightening world of global agriculture.

Update:

If you would like to read another book on bees, try:
"Plan Bee: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Hardest-Working Creatures on the Planet"
by Susan Brackney

This is a valuable perspective on Colony Collapse Disorder in honey bees, and what CCD may mean in the larger picture of modern agriculture.

CCD is killing off large number of bee colonies in the USA and elsewhere in the world -- Europe, Canada, Asia. Apparently healthy bees -- especially the Italian bee commonly kept by beekeepers in the USA and Europe -- suddenly disappear, leaving the hives virtually empty. In just the last year or two, perhaps one-third or more of the world's honey bees have died from CCD. Many theories have been put forward about the cause of CCD, but scientists as yet have no clear answer.

Jacobsen's conclusion is that there is no single cause. Many factors may be involved: Loss of habitat, weakening of bee colonies due to the varroa mite, monocultural agriculture on an industrial scale, massive and "unnatural" movement of bee hives by beekeepers for pollination of crops, use of antibiotics and miticides in hives, use of insecticides in agriculture, possibly in a few cases genetically modified crops and other etiologies. Jacobsen argues that several of these factors can contribute to poor nutrition in bees, to the disturbance of the overall "hive intelligence" and to many different problems that, when they reach a tipping point, cause the collapse of bee colonies.

In the end, Jacobsen's argument about bees and CCD is unconvincing. The "multi-cause" hypothesis simply doesn't explain why such a large number of bee colonies died suddenly and in such a short time, nor why CCD is present in many areas of the world where many of the causes he discusses (trucking bees long distances for pollination, monocultural agriculture, GM crops, and so on) aren't common.

However, Jacobsen's larger argument, unfortunately made superficially and without much data beyond the bees, is that with today's agricultural practices, including our current style of beekeeping, we run the risk of losing not only honey bees but pollinators of all kinds. That would be a disaster on a massive scale.

Jacobsen's heart is in the right place, and he yearns to go back to an older, more sustainable model of agriculture.

If nothing else, he has motivated me to look into taking up beekeeping again.

--Lan Sluder

I found this book to be an interesting and somewhat scary perspective on agriculture and the negative aspects of industrial farming. I actually was moved to go and purchase organic wildflower honey and was really suprised by the difference from consumer grade honey

Following up on his excellent A Geography of Oysters: The Connoisseur's Guide to Oyster Eating in North America, Rowan Jacobsen has produced a beautifully written history of the honey bee and its importance in the United States over the past 100 years. Jacobsen is especially compelling on the threats to this useful insect and the serious impact those threats to bees may have on all of us.

Other reviews here have done a great job of outlining the substance of this book. My review will focus on a few of the passages I found particularly interesting.

When I was a kid, a fellow named Rude Logee kept 20 hives on our farm to produce honey and over ten years he made me a barely competent bee keeper. I was especially fascinated with the Langstroth hive, which Jacobsen describes:

"Bee space -- the 0.3 inch wide aisle bees leave between their combs -- was Langstroth's epiphany. He envisioned a file-cabinet-style hive, with each hanging file ... being exactly wide enough for a two-sided sheet of honeycomb and exactly one bee space apart from the surrounding box."

The Langstroth hive was a hundred years old when I met Mr. Logee, and American bee keepers have continued to make it the standard of the industry.

Perhaps, today, to their detriment -- these hives may one of the factors contributing to the fearsome spread of colony collapse disorder, or CCD. One of the features of the Langstroth system are equal sized cell foundations on which bees build their cells. It may be that a small cell foundation, used by the African, or killer, bees might allow the European bee to flourish again -- after losing several generations of bees as they regress back to using smaller cells.

It would be fun to dust off my old copy of The ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture: An Encyclopedia Pertaining to the Scientific and Practical Culture of Honey Bees (now in its 41st edition). But Mr. Logee told me that to be successful as a bee keeper, one had to work awfully hard, and we both proved the truth of that statement in practice. Besides, our local Audubon keeps bees and we can buy honey made from local plants, perhaps even some from our own yard, for the health benefits. (It appears that honey made from local pollen can help allergy sufferers like my wife.) Jacobsen writes that he plans to try to keep bees himself; I hope he updates his website from time to time to let his readers know how it goes for him and his bees.

More practical, my wife and I have resolved to "landscape our yard with pollinators in mind.... You invite the wild right up to your door." Jacobsen has an excellent Appendix dealing with the plants to use and how and where to plant them to attract as many pollinators as possible. He even describes how to create nesting places for pollinators from dead trees and decaying deadfallen branches.

Jacobsen recommends The Forgotten Pollinators by Stephen L. Buchmann and Gary Paul Nabhan as "one of the most important works of the past quarter century." He also suggests visiting the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium website to keep up on the newest developments in this fascinating field. Jacobsen's book is a excellent survey of bees and the threats these wonderful insects face at a perilous time in their history.

Robert C. Ross 2009

Rowan Jacobsen has succeeded in writing an informative, humorous, enlightening book that delves into the vanishing world of honeybees, and the implications not only to humanity, but all the other creatures that depend upon the industriousness of honeybees. It was so good, I actually enjoyed all of the appendixes!

Unlike a dry, scholarly book (although this book is chock full of scholarly references), Mr. Jacobsen makes the "lowly" honeybee a creature that you not only care deeply about, but one that makes you shake your head in amazement at their abilities.

Who would have thought that:

* The honeybee can be trained to detect bombs, saving the lives of humans as well as those poor bomb sniffing dogs.

* Their honey has medicinal properties that assist in curing MRSA, and is a valuable boon to burn victims, and is a natural, healthy alternative to the all pervasive "antibiotic ointment" products on the market (I actually already knew this, but cheered to see it explained so wonderfully).

* How many crops depend soley upon the honeybee for pollination, and the impact of the monocrop on the honeybee. Love almonds? Love oranges? As a frugivore, I shudder at the though of no honeybees.

* Honeybees communicate amazing amounts of information by dancing the "waggle dance", "tremble dance" and the "shake dance". There are Big Mac-ers and Haute Cuisine bees - and their society is in some ways so similar to the office that you will associate bees with co-workers at odd moments, prompting unexplained chuckles.

I laughed at his humor, and then felt like crying as the full extent of Colony Collapse Disorder was explained. Then, I was deeply disturbed at the short sightedness of monocrop purveyors, the almost criminal negligence of the chemical industry, and the flooding of our markets of Chinese honey that is contaminated with multiple harmful chemicals. It baffles the mind that humanity can alter one of the most beneficial substances that is easily at our disposal in its natural form with chemicals, antibiotics, and other contaminants.

Scientists and bee keepers are frantically trying to find the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder, and I was amazed at this section of society who have been blowing a clarion horn of alert, just to be ignored or poo-hood by the majority of the population. I now understand WHY everyone should care.

I have already recommended this book to several people, and wish that farmers and every gardener would read it. A world without bees is a world without beauty. I will be planting as many bee attracting wildflowers as I can, and will cheer whenever I see one of these gentle, loving, industrious creatures visiting my yard.

*If you love this book, or just don't like non-fiction, I recommend the two following complimentary fiction books
Dust
Nature's End

This book was highly informative looking at many aspects of what may or may not have contributed to CCD. Like someone else said, it is scary. Very well written and a great read.

My father gave me this book after he'd finished reading it. He didn't have anything to say about it, just asked me if I wanted to read it when he was done, and I said yes. I'm so glad I did. It's an outstanding overview of the state of the beekeeping industry and our monocultural Big Agriculture's reliance on pollination services, as well as Colony Collapse Disorder and the search for the cause and possible solutions. Granted, having been written in 2008 it's already a tad out of date on the CCD side, but that's to be expected. It's an alarming wake up call to the state of Big Ag practices, and to the possible future of our food supply, without being overly melodramatic or agenda-laden. It's not a push for any particular solution or philosophy, it's an exploration of the current situation and possible futures and solutions.

It's well-written, extremely easy to read, engaging, and understandable even for someone who doesn't know much about bees or agriculture. I want to hand a copy to everyone I know and get them interested in and concerned about pollinators and our environment.

If you are a gardener, you should read this book. If you are a farmer or grow your own food, you absolutely should read this book. If you care about organic fruits or wildflowers, if you want to know how your food is produced, if you want to be connected to the natural world, if you want to understand what scientists mean when they talk about CCD, if you like a good mystery, if you want to wildly speculate, if you are given to thinking about "what if" for the future of mankind, if you have ever considered keeping bees, if you're just curious about the world around you...read this book.

Albert Einstein stated "If the bee disappeared off the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollinations, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

You begin with a nibble of this delectible confection, but quickly realize there is real 'meat and potatoes' too. All presuppositions of understanding are turned over as you are enlightened about the plight of the darling of the insect world with common sense language and genuine depth of investigation. The alarm is sounded, but in a delightfully enjoyable read as you mix data, fun, facts and anticdotes into a wonderfully woven web of knowledge delivered in a 'folksy-crackerbarrel' delivery. I am now a fan, no an advocate, of the honeybee and find myself seeking opportunities to share the dangers of CCD and the perils of honeybees with others. Great, great read.

Grew up in a bee keeping family and have gotten back into bee keeping because I use honey for cooking, the wax for making candles and because as an organic gardener I know the value of bees and healthy foods be it vegetable to fruits.

Here in the Sierras we have many home bee keepers, and as I drive down to the San Joaquin Valley I see the hives out in the fruit and nut orchards. Sadly I see fewer and fewer. But hopefully within the next few years we will see a change. The book is full of wisdom especially the importance of having bee keepers in abundance in all states.

Rather than a few hundred big bee keepers who have to trek all across the country to insure that there are bees for all the fruits and vegetables people need. How many people know that even dairy products require bees to pollinate the clover and alfalfa that the milk animals eat. Even chocolate requires bees to pollinate the cacao trees. And how about coffee beans?

Fact is bees are a must and as the author notes, we better wake up NOW and take the demise of the bee colonies seriously. And the author writes in such a wonderful way that you literally do not want to put the book down.