A cocktail of agro-chemicals increasingly used in direct planting of soy is decimating bee colonies in Brazil's far south. In the last four years, at least 20 cases have been reported in seven municipalities of Rio Grande do Sul state.

“The depopulation of hives belonging to beekeepers working near the crops is more and more frequent. To reduce the cost of spraying their crops, soy growers apply the insecticide fipronil, lethal to bees, mixed with the desiccant glyphosate,” Aroni Sattler, president of the Apiary Federation of Rio Grande do Sul, which produces some 7,000 tons of honey per year.

The agro-toxins reduce beehive productivity by an estimated 20 percent.