Sheila Dicken, President of the Stark County Beekeeper鈥檚 Association, is among those feeling the loss.
鈥淲e had about 125 hives going into the winter, and we come out with about 20,鈥� she says.
Dicken鈥檚 husband, Jeffrey, inspects beehives for a living. He wonders if there are other factors besides the weather.
鈥淲e鈥檙e suspecting one or two pesticides, but you鈥�.I can鈥檛 be sure...are they breeding a weaker bee?鈥� he asks.
In fact, over the last few years the bee population has been rapidly shrinking around the country and other parts of the world and researchers aren鈥檛 sure why. They do have a name for the phenomenon though, of abruptly disappearing bees: Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
What experts are pretty sure of is how important bees are for the food supply, including Cynthia Druckenbrod, Vice President of Horticulture at Cleveland Botanical Garden.
鈥淭o eat is made possible, because these bees鈥oney bees of course in particular, are responsible for pollinating plants. We rely heavily on bees for our very survival.鈥�
Bees pollinate more than 70 crops in Ohio, including strawberries, pumpkins, and apples.