NH beekeepers feel stung by aerial drone pesticide bill; farmers say it's needed

CONCORD — It was a showdown between New Hampshire farmers and beekeepers in the state Senate Thursday as each side argued over a bill that would remove a notification requirement for aerial drones spreading pesticides.

Mary Ellen McKeen, the president of the New Hampshire Beekeepers Association, stood outside the NH Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee wearing a headdress that featured a large white flower with a bee perched upon it.

“We are opposing this bill because pesticides and bees don't mix,” McKeen said. McKeen lives in Somersworth, and has bee colonies in Somersworth, Lee and Henniker. “Their bees will be poisoned out in the field, bring it back to the hives, and the hives will die. It's that simple. All we want is to be notified of spraying.”

Farmers said aerial pesticide spraying through drones is crucial to protecting their crops, especially against pests like bur-cucumber that germinate throughout the summer, can ruin acres of crops, and is difficult to control. The notification requirement, they said, presents a barrier to using the drones.

Currently, farmers applying pesticides aerially, through drones, helicopters, or planes, are subject to a notification requirement. House Bill 1698, sponsored by Rep. Judy Aron, R-South Acworth, would exempt those using drones to apply pesticides at a height of up to 20 feet from those notification procedures.

HB 1698 passed the House in March. Thursday was its first Senate hearing.

Farmers and beekeepers argue over notification, drift

Sen. David Watters, D-Dover, said he had drafted an amendment to state the existing notification requirement would still apply to the area if there were registered beekeepers within 200 feet.

Aron said that the House grappled with the idea of notification, but that it was “very tough” for them to figure out who and how to notify.

While aerial applications require notifications currently, ground spraying does not.

“We were given information from the Farm Bureau saying that currently when farmers truck spray, there is no notification required for that, and this is very, very similar to truck application of pesticides,” Aron said. “It also would reduce a drift going on so that it was felt that it probably didn't need the same notification that you needed from aerial spraying from airplanes or helicopters.”

This reduction of drift, or the movement of pesticide droplets to another site than was originally targeted, is part of what makes drone application of pesticides better for the environment, Aron said. It is also more targeted, therefore using less of the chemicals.

But beekeepers don’t see drift as the main issue.

“I think we kind of forget that honey bees, they fly. They travel. Honey bees normally forge a radius of anywhere from three to five miles away from the hive,’ said Joe Mercieri, the owner of White Mountain Apiary and Bee Farm. “I can't put a leash on all my honey bees.”

Mercieri said that it takes just 24 hours for bees exposed to pesticides to die. This death not only hurts the colonies, but also presents a fiscal impact as beekeepers spend $800-$1,000 on one beehive. Being notified of spraying in advance, he and McKeen said, would give beekeepers the time to close all the apiaries, or a collection of beehives, at night so that the bees can’t get out when the pesticides are being sprayed.

Sheldon Sawyer, a dairy farmer from Walpole, said the current notification requirements are too complicated and prevented him from drone spraying last year. In the House hearing, Robert Johnson of the New Hampshire Farm Bureau said the rules are “prohibitive.”

“Currently, if I want to apply pesticides via aerial application, that includes a drone, helicopter, airplane, I have to get the application to the division board 90 days before, which in an application for a farmer makes no sense. And then there are other public notification requirements,” Johnson said. This bill, he added, provides a “practical” option.

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Shawn Jasper, the commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture, said he thinks a notification system specifically for beekeepers would be too difficult to create.

“My feeling is that unless we have notification for ground spraying, we should not have notification for drones,” said Rep. Peter Bixby, D-Dover. “That may be a discussion that needs to happen at some point, of should we have notification for ground spraying, but that is not this bill.”

McKeen said they would like to be notified for all spraying, including ground, but with this bill, they are just focused on keeping the aerial notification.

Can beekeepers and farmers work together?

Honeybees and their work as pollinators is very important to agriculture, too, something many of the farmers brought up.

“We talk about bees a lot. They’re obviously very important to us,” said Chuck Souther, owner of Apple Hill Farm in Concord. He pointed out an insecticide that says on the label that it cannot not be applied anytime there are visiting bees. He said drones are a better, more efficient way of spraying.

Jasper suggested that beekeepers talk to farmers that live nearby and ask for advance notification personally.

“Beekeepers need the plants. The farmers need the bees,” said Jasper. “Let's start working together.”

Fawn Gaudet, of NH Save Our Pollinators Coalitions, said New Hampshire needs to do more to protect pollinators like bees, and that “no part of New Hampshire’s biodiversity should be poisoned.”

Other beekeepers said they understand farmer’s need for pesticides – within reason.

“I understand the importance of lowering the use of pesticides, integrating technology in agriculture, I’m all for it. I’m all for pinpoint accuracy when it comes to spraying,” said Mercieri. “All we want is to be informed. We want a phone call. That’s all we’re asking for. The notification of the intent to spray. Is that too much to ask?”

Mercieri too emphasized the need for collaboration.

“I think we need to work on a collaborative effort to resolve these issues and not yank the carpet out from under our business to only leave us hanging without any consideration for our fiscal futures or to help preserve my family business,” said Mercieri.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: 'Pesticides and bees don't mix': Beekeepers feel stung by NH bill