Bee Workers and the Expanding Edges of Capitalism

In the past year, newspapers in the United Kingdom have reported new exigencies emerging from commercial and public responses to the global decline in honeybees. To offset the devastating effects of colony collapse disorder (CCD), many British residents have turned to beekeeping as a national, global, and environmental responsibility. Despite good intentions, the “boom in bee keeping,” writes the Daily Mail, “may be doing our countryside more harm than good.” A “surge in the number of bumblebee hives means thousands of colonies are being imported” from elsewhere in Europe, and “many of these are riddled with parasites that pose a threat to native species.”1 A study of 48 colonies brought to the UK from European suppliers has revealed high rates of contamination: 77% were infected by parasites harmful to indigenous bee species in the region. Given recent warnings of the long-term effects of CCD, particularly on agriculture and global food production, the government has been listening attentively. Effective January 1, 2015, non-native bee species will only be used “as an emergency measure if native beces cannot be found.”2 In the coming year, “foreign worker bees will be banned from getting jobs pollinat-ing crops when there are millions of redundant British workers.”3 This law is the most recent addition to a series of UK security regulations — including specified “Border Inspection Points” and required health certificates — aimed at restricting the entry of foreign bees.