Print
APPLE RIVER, IL – An Illinois beekeeper may be the target of the Illinois Department of Agriculture because of his research into the connection between Roundup and the worldwide decline in bee populations.
Terrence “Terry” Ingram, owner of Apple Creek Apiaries, recently returned to his property to find his bees and beehives had been stolen from him by the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDofA). He reports his over 15 year of research that proves Roundup is the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) was taken as well.
Ingram’s problems began last summer when he gave a sample of his honeycomb to IDofA inspector Susan Kivikko at a beekeeper’s picnic. His bees would not touch the comb and he wanted it tested for chemical contamination.
Kivikko then told Mr. Ingram that the Illinois Department of Agriculture does not conduct test for chemicals. Instead the comb was tested for “foulbrood,” a disease that Ingram contends is greatly overblown. Ingram has been working with honey bees for almost 60 year, trains new beekeepers on a continuing basis, and is recognized throughout the state for his work.
When the test proved positive for foulbrood, Kivikko, along with her associates Eleanor Balson and Steven D. Chard, proceeded to enter Ingram’s property without a warrant on several occasions.
Ingram believes that a comprehensive letter he wrote to Gov. Pat Quinn on January 7, and another to Rep. Jim Sacia Feb. 9, raised the ire of the IDofA.
Ingram said, “The order to destroy my bees was the result of an unknown inspection, conducted by our local neophyte bee inspector, without my knowledge, and without my presence. When checking the date on which this order claims the inspection was done against our own daily log, I was either at home, or at the office 1/2 mile away, but she never had the courtesy to let me know that she was in the area.”
The statute gives the Department the right of entry “to inspect or cause to be inspected from time to time any bees, colonies, items of bee equipment or apiary. For the purpose of inspection, the Director is authorized during reasonable business hours to enter into or upon any property used for the purpose of beekeeping. (Source: P.A. 88-138.)
For most businesses, a Sunday is not “during reasonable business hours.” During one of those illegal searches all of Ingram’s research was destroyed. Ingram believes the searches were rooted in a deliberate conspiracy by the state to hide the truth about Roundup.
“The State Department of Agriculture came in and inspected our hives 4 times, 3 times when we were not home, and without due process,” said Ingram. “I have never received or found a search warrant. I own four businesses. I am here all the time. Yet they took our bees and hives when we were not home. What did they do, sit up on the hill and watch until we left? We had not yet had our day in court to prove that our hives did not have foulbrood!”
Ingram began his extensive research on Roundup herbicide several years ago when hundreds of his hives died. He later determined that Roundup sprayings near his property were to blame, which prompted him to actively research the subject and closely monitor his hives in conjunction with this research from that point onward.
He has used this information and years of experience to develop and refine methods of growing chemical-free bees in spite of Roundup sprayings, a move that apparently upset IDofA, which seemingly operates primarily to serve the interests of chemical companies rather than the interests of the people.
“Is Illinois becoming a police state, where citizens do not have rights?” asked Ingram “Knowing that Monsanto and the Department of Agriculture are in bed together, one has to wonder if Monsanto was behind the theft to ruin my research that may prove Roundup was, and is, killing honeybees.”
