Berkeley beekeeper pens book on challenges facing bee populations after colony loss.

Jennie Durant, who began beekeeping in 2014 at her North Berkeley home, aimed to deepen her understanding of bees for her Ph.D. in environmental science at UC Berkeley. Despite her colony of 20,000 bees succumbing to varroa mites, which many local beekeepers avoid treating with pesticides, the endeavor enriched her knowledge. Durant sought to converse with commercial beekeepers, which became crucial for her book, “Bitter Honey: Big Ag’s Threat to Bees and the Fight to Save Them,” exploring the dangers industrial agriculture poses to bees.