Photographer Adrees Latif photographed apiarists (beekeepers or honey farmers) loading honey bee colonies onto trucks and transporting them to different crop fields for pollination throughout Maine in the Northeastern United States. Over recent years, bees have been dying at a rate the U.S. government says is economically unsustainable. Honey bees pollinate plants that produce about a quarter of the food consumed by Americans, including apples, watermelons and beans. A lawsuit has now been filed by environmental groups in the United States seeking an injunction restricting the approval of a controversial class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, or ‘neonics’. These pesticides have become a subject of scrutiny in Europe and the U.S. as concern has mounted that they harm honeybees and other pollinators.
Photos and text by Adrees Latif / Reuters
Edit and sequencing by Assigning Photo Editor RJ Mickelson
