Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon State University will ask the state for a quarter-of-a-million dollars this year to look into a troubling increase in honey bee deaths.

Mysterious bee deaths are a major industry concern around the world right now - researchers have yet to pinpoint the cause.

In the past few months, Pacific Northwest beekeepers have reported several mass bee deaths on farms.

According to the federal government, Oregon's honey bees are worth 450-(m)million-dollars to blueberry, cherry, and pear farmers.

Stella Coakley is an associate dean at the Oregon State College of Agricultural Sciences.

Stella Coakley: “This effectively popped up this spring, as having reached a crisis stage. I mean, we had an issue before, but no one in the Pacific Northwest really thought they had good evidence of what is known nationally as colony collapse disorder.”

The emergency funding request was approved by the state board of higher education last week.

This week, the university expects to forward that request on to the state legislature's emergency budget committee.

If the state approves the $250,000 request, it will pay for 2 full-time positions assigned to researching bee deaths.

The university hopes to receive political support from industry groups to establish the bee research center as a permanent lab, whether or not the state approves the emergency funding request.