A-MAZE-ING: IDAHO FARMER HAS PATH INSIDE JIMMY FALLON’S HEAD
Page 9
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2016
VOLUME 89, NUMBER 39
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
Researchers travel
the world to deepen
gene pool of the
important pollinators
Brandon Hopkins/Washington
BREEDING
A BETTER
HONEYBEE
State University
WSU APIARY PROGRAM
Courtesy of WDFW
The Washington State Department of
Fish and Wildlife is removing members
of the Profanity Peak pack, but man-
agers say the job is proving diffi cult
because of the rugged terrain in the
northeastern part of the state.
A researcher
collects semen from
a honeybee. Washington
State University researchers
are importing bee semen
from other countries to
improve genetic diversity
among U.S.
honeybees.
Removing
Profanity
Peak pack
challenging
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
P
ULLMAN, Wash. — Honeybees buzz
freely around the lights in Brandon
Hopkins’ offi ce and in the hallway outside.
The bees enter the building on equip-
ment Hopkins and his co-workers bring
indoors, drawn by the smell of the honey-laden frames.
Hopkins and several workers converse casually
about the day’s work, lightly brushing bees off their
sleeves and out of their hair.
“We’re just used to it,” Hopkins said of the visitors.
Hopkins is a research associate at Washington State
University, where he manages the laboratory and ger-
mplasm repository for WSU’s apiary program.
He’s part of a team of researchers working to breed
a better U.S. honeybee.
$2.00
According to WDFW,
two adults, pups remain
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Washington wildlife managers
are hunting for the remaining mem-
bers of the Profanity Peak wolf pack
in rugged timberlands, but will have
a diffi cult time removing them, ac-
cording to state Department of Fish
and Wildlife wolf policy coordinator
Donny Martorello.
WDFW has killed six wolves in
the pack since Aug. 5, but none since
Aug. 22, Martorello said in a Sept.
16 email.
It was the department’s fi rst up-
date on the lethal removal of the
pack in the Colville National Forest
since Sept. 2.
The pack has at least two adults
remaining and may have up to four
pups. Pups have a high natural mor-
tality rate during their fi rst year, ac-
cording to Martorello.
WDFW investigators have con-
fi rmed the pack has killed or injured
eight cattle since July 8. In another
fi ve cases, the pack probably at-
tacked cattle, but investigators were
unable to positively identify wolves
as the predators. WDFW most re-
cently confi rmed a depredation on
Aug. 31.
The U.S. Forest Service and a
rancher report that they are seeing
livestock behavior that suggests cat-
tle are being harassed by wolves,
Martorello said.
WDFW policy calls for the de-
partment to shoot wolves after four
depredations and if non-lethal pre-
ventive measures employed by
ranchers have failed.
Initially, the pack was believed
to have six adults and fi ve pups. The
pack actually had seven adults, ac-
cording to Martorello. One pup has
been killed.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Brandon Hopkins, apiary and laboratory manager at Washington State
University, shows frozen bee semen samples at the Pullman, Wash.,
campus on Aug. 30. Hopkins and other WSU researchers are working
to improve the genetic diversity in the U.S. bee population by breeding
starter queen bees for commercial queen bee producers.
Genetic diversity
Hopkins, WSU entomology professor and depart-
ment chairman Steve Sheppard and research associate
Susan Cobey want to improve the genetic diversity in
the U.S. honeybee population by importing bee semen
from Europe and Asia. They hope to breed bees more
capable of warding off pests and diseases, surviving
over winter and pollinating in inclement weather.
They produce breeder queen bees, which they pro-
vide to commercial queen bee producers, who in turn
can produce thousands of queen bees for the nation’s
beekeepers. WSU can produce 300 to 400 queen bees
a year, Hopkins said.
The U.S. honeybee population is a “mongrelized”
or “mutt” mix of races, Hopkins and Cobey said.
“We’re trying to separate them out more and show
the true traits of different species,” Cobey said.
Honeybees are not native to the U.S. The federal
government closed the border to honeybees in 1922,
restricting their importation to prevent the introduction
of parasitic tracheal mites.
“What was established before that date is what our
industry is based on, which is full of genetic bottle-
neck issues,” Cobey said. “There’s 28 subspecies of
honeybees, and basically our industry is built on two.
There’s a real need to conserve that diversity world-
wide, because different combinations of things will
give us different results, different ability to deal with
these pathogens, problems.”
Genetic diversity offers improved bee fi tness and
productivity. A genetically diverse colony handles dis-
eases better, Hopkins said.
The biggest need in the U.S. honeybee population
is anything that would increase resistance to parasitic
Varroa mites, Hopkins said.
Kathy Keatley Garvey/University of California-Davis
Turn to BEES, Page 10
Washington State University research associate
Susan Cobey with queens.
Turn to PACK, Page 10
Bayer, Monsanto defend proposed $66B merger
Farm groups fear consolidation will increase prices
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Top offi -
cials for Monsanto and Bayer defend-
ed their proposed $66 billion merger
before skeptical senators on Tuesday,
insisting that the deal would lead to
greater investments in technology that
could help American farmers.
Monsanto, the American seed and
weed-killer, and Bayer, the German
medicine and farm-chemical maker,
responded to concerns from Iowa Sen.
Charles Grassley, the Republican chair-
man of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Grassley warned that consolida-
tion and competition in the U.S. seed
and agrochemical industry could hurt
American farmers who are already
dealing with an economic downturn.
“I’m afraid this consolidation wave
has become a tsunami,” Grassley said
as the hearing opened.
After months of negotiations, St.
Louis-based Monsanto Co. last week
accepted an offer from Leverkusen, Ger-
many-based Bayer AG that will pay $57
billion to Monsanto shareholders and as-
sume $9 billion in Monsanto debt. The
deal combines two of the six U.S. and
European companies that dominate the
agrochemical market, and would create
a global agricultural and chemical giant
with a broad array of products.
Robb Fraley, executive vice pres-
ident and chief technology offi cer of
Monsanto, and Jim Blome, president
and CEO of Bayer CropScience North
America, both testifi ed that the com-
bined investment is needed to meet a
Turn to MERGER, Page 10
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