Pork & Bees

No one knows yet what causes the bees to disappear.

One day the beehive is humming along; the next day the bees are just gone.

Pesticides, bee diet and environmental stresses are factors believed to contribute to what's known as "colony collapse disorder," said Sandy Miller Hays, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief research agency.

Bees are used to pollinate much of the nation's crops, she said, and yet questions persist about the phenomenon.

Scientists are investigating bee disappearance and related topics at Weslaco's Kika de la Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center,

Last week, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., thrust their work into the middle of a debate over pork-barrel politics when he released a list of the top 10 "porkiest" projects in a $410 billion omnibus spending measure, deriding a $1.7 million earmark for honeybee research at the center.

McCain blasted the bill - needed to keep numerous government agencies operating - for 9,000 earmarks he called wasteful spending at a time when the country is reeling from a deep recession.

But the USDA's Hays and U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa - a sponsor of the earmark that was included in the House's version of the bill - take issue with McCain's criticism.

"This is how Americans get fed," Hays said. "In every one of these instances, this research is important to agriculture. These are essential parts (of the bill)."

‘BEE FACTORY'

On Thursday, the Senate's Democratic majority looked to be one vote short of the 60 needed to pass the measure, which includes spending increases for federal agencies and numerous earmarks.

With the vote thus postponed until at least Tuesday, Congress was forced to pass a five-day spending measure to ensure domestic agencies funded by the bill could continue operating in the interim.

McCain was one of several senators who denounced the bill as too costly and helped to block it. In particular, he targeted the measure's earmarks, including the $1.7 million for Weslaco's bee research.

In a statement made on the Senate floor and through Twitter - an online social messaging tool used to update vast groups of people - McCain criticized the spending on what he termed a "honey bee factory."

The center is similar to one the USDA operates in his home state of Arizona.

But Mark Buse, McCain's chief of staff, said the senator has killed Arizona earmarks before and is opposed to all of them, regardless of where they are from or what they serve.

"The problem with earmarks is that there may be greater need," Buse said. "Projects should be funded based off need and merit, not based on some lawmaker's pet project."

NEEDED RESEARCH

But Hinojosa, one of several members of Congress who supported earmarks for the USDA's research centers, said the funding is critical for research into what's ailing the bees.

Honeybees are vital to the nation's agriculture and food industry, pollinating more than 90 crops, particularly fruits and nuts, said the Mercedes Democrat. A dramatic decline of as much as 70 percent in the honeybee population in the United States is imperiling crop production.

Weslaco's center is part of an effort to counter that trend, Hinojosa said.

"The objective of this facility is to find the cause of the decline and increase bee colony survival so that our food supplies are not negatively impacted," said Hinojosa, who touted a total of $60 million in earmarks for the Rio Grande Valley when the bill cleared the House.

Hays, the USDA spokeswoman, said defining the funding as an earmark is factually incorrect since the $1.7 million would not create new research but rather would only prolong the work done at the center since it was formed to research Africanized bees.

Without funding included in the appropriations bill - the measure includes another $8.6 million for other research at the center - the USDA may close the Weslaco center, a fixture in the Valley for eight decades.

Hinojosa reported last year that the center is one of 11 others across the country the USDA is targeting for closure if $84 million in funding cuts is not restored.

The Weslaco center operates with an annual budget of about $10 million.

BUSINESS AS USUAL

Bob Mangan, the research leader for the center's crop quality and fruit insects research unit, finds the debate over the facility's funding amusing.

For one, the center is "not a factory," he said. "We don't produce bees."

Furthermore, he said, the center conducts other research unrelated to honeybees.

The facility made a name for itself in the 1980s with research into cotton boll weevil control and has since expanded into other areas, he said. His unit developed an organic pesticide for fruit flies, and another unit expanded on quarantine methods to kill larvae by submerging fruit in heated water.

The center has operated on a tenuous basis since former President George W. Bush's 2009 budget proposed huge cuts to domestic agencies, effectively stalling the budget process in a mire of disagreement.

While the standstill persisted Friday, Mangan said the center continued to operate as usual.

"We've heard those discussions" about closing the center, he said. "Until we hear something more concrete, we're still putting out experiments."

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Jared Janes covers Hidalgo County government, Edinburg and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4424.