I
There is shock and horror in the Californian almond region tonight.
—CBS Sacramento
Initial reports suggest ten dead and at least a dozen more injured.
—CNN
America’s latest atrocity occurred in an idyllic, sun-dappled almond grove.
—‘Mass Shooting at Waterford Nut’, The New York Times
With police confirming the deceased shooter as 32-year-old Toby Rogen, the burning question now becomes: why?
—Fox News
Mr Rogen’s social media presence suggests a disturbed individual with an unhealthy grudge against bees.
—‘Waterford Nut Shooter Feared “Bee-vasion”’, Huffington Post
II
Bees are the unsung, unpaid laborers of the American agricultural system.
—‘A World without Bees’, Time
The principal mode of pollination of many plant species is by insects. Worldwide, an estimated 400 crop species are pollinated by bees…possible crop loss in some species would be more than 90 per cent in the absence of bees.
—‘Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability’, IPCC
Any factor that compromises honeybees’ abilities to forage effectively can drive a colony into decline.
—‘Death of the Bee Hive’, Science Direct
Researchers at Northwestern University conducted a two-year, in situ field experiment that altered the temperature of honeybees’ nests to simulate a warming climate … 35 per cent of bees died in the first year, and 70 per cent died in the second year.
—‘Climate Change Linked to Population Decline in Honeybees’, Northwestern News
Over the coming decades, every region of the US is expected to experience hotter temperatures and more frequent and intense heat waves.
—‘Heat Waves and Climate Change’, UCS
III
Over three-quarters of remaining American honeybee colonies were wiped out last year, triggering fresh panic in the agricultural industry.
—PBS News Hour
A fourth straight year of cataclysmic colony die offs has left scientists in no doubt: climate change is killing our bees.
—‘Here’s Why All the Bees Are Dying’, Mother Jones
A U.S. Department of Agriculture study estimated that over $50 billion a year in American harvests were threatened by the mounting toll.
—‘Bee Deaths Put Crops at Risk’, Wall Street Journal
‘Listen’, she says, gesturing out to rows of vineyards sparsely dotted with anaemic, dusty grapes.
I tell her I can’t hear a thing.
‘Exactly’.
—‘Without Bees, Napa Valley Withers on the Vine’, The Atlantic
One shopper we spoke to rejoiced that they would no longer have to pretend almonds were a delicious snack alternative, or waste precious minutes of their day testing the softness of avocados.
—‘Good News for Lovers of Wheat, Rice’, The Onion
IV
In this region heavily reliant on almond production, hope had all but died.
—‘Beemigrants Divide Rural Community’, L.A. Times
Unable to source natural or industrial pollinators, the Huckleberg family knew they were left with few options to save their fifth-generation apple farm.
—‘Our Mysterious Saviour’, Washington Post
Like many others in the region, Jim and Sandy Freese were about to begin the costly but unavoidable recourse of replacing their cherry orchard with wind-pollinating wheat.
—‘Miracle on the American Farm’, The New Yorker
Haemorrhaging money, Waterford Nut had already begun employee lay-offs. Then, CEO Jerry Waterford Jr. got a phone call he will never forget.
—‘US Almonds Back from the Brink’, Forbes
Suddenly, mysteriously, the bees were back.
—‘What’s With These Bees?’ Slate
V
The silent flowers had come to buzzing, bumbling life.
—‘Tracing the Beemigrant’, National Geographic
Incredibly, pollinator supply is almost back to pre-crisis levels.
—‘The Bees Are Back In Town’, Economist
It appeared that the Huckleberg farm was saved.
—‘Our Mysterious Savior’, Washington Post
Jerry Jr. shakes his head, as if still in disbelief: ‘God heard our prayers.’
—‘US Almonds Back from the Brink’, Forbes
Though these bees have gathered nicknames like pollen, Sandy Freese only ever calls them one thing: ‘they’re our savior bees’.
—‘Miracle on the American Farm’, The New Yorker
VI
Not everyone, however, is so sure on these new saviors.
—‘Beemigrants Divide Rural Community’, L.A. Times
Isn’t it a little unnerving how, you know, these bees just ‘showed up’?
—Fox & Friends
‘They do make me uneasy’, admits Walter Cromack, whose alfalfa farm was suddenly inundated this past spring.
—‘The Enigma of the “Savior Bee”’, National Review
Once again, the mainstream media is failing to ask the important questions.
—‘BUZZ-KILL: Who Are These Bees Really “Saving?”’, Breitbart
Who do these bees work for?
—Infowars
VII
They’re just bees, okay? Chill. They’re just bees.
—‘Enough Already with These Beespiracies’, Vice
Scientists have concluded that the ‘saviour bee’ is in fact melipona beecheii, or the Mayan stingless bee.
—‘U.S. “Saviour Bees” are Migrants’, Guardian
Many people in the U.S. would not have heard of Stingless bees, as the species is not cold-tolerant and lives mainly in the tropics.
—‘Stingless Bees Get Their Moment in the Sun’, Nature
Prior to this recent migration, likely due to warming temperatures, the stingless bee’s natural range was thought to be from Costa Rica to Mexico.
—‘Mass Migration of Melipona Beecheii’, Bee World
So climate change cooked our honeybees, and then gave us some heat-loving, Central American pollinators as recompense. Problem solved, mystery over. Right?
—‘What’s with These Bees?’, Slate
VIII
Agricultural production is mysteriously booming in what some are calling ‘the miracle on the American farm’.
—BBC News
In the season after the new bees arrived, the Freeses yielded their largest-ever cherry crop.
—‘The Miracle on the American Farm’, The New Yorker
The Huckleberg farm wasn’t just saved—it was reborn.
—‘Our Mysterious Savior’, Washington Post
Waterford Nuts has seen a 150 per cent increase in profits.
—US Almonds Back from the Brink’, Forbes
On Sundays, the church is packed with farmers grateful for the miraculous upturn in fortune. Some, however, continue to see only the devil’s handiwork.
—‘Beemigrants Divide Rural Community’, L.A. Times
IX
An alarming new report from the Department of Homeland Security shows a surge in the number of migrants crossing into the US illegally.
—‘Illegal Border Crossings Are Up’, El Paso Times
Record numbers of migrants are streaming into the United States, overwhelming border agents and leaving holding cells dangerously overcrowded.
—‘Crisis at the Border’, Arizona Republic
Before this latest surge, undocumented immigration had previously been in steep decline for years—a result of stricter enforcement and the rise of robotic labor.
—‘Illegal Immigration to the US Is Rising Again’, Houston Chronicle
Officials are scrambling to explain this sudden and irrepressible immigration surge.
—‘In Washington, Contesting Theories on Immigration Increase’, Politico
Some have begun to wonder: is it the bees?
—‘Enough already with These Beespiracies’, Vice
X
Locals have a nickname for the opportunistic, undocumented workers who are suddenly everywhere: ‘beemigrants’.
—‘Beemigrants Divide Rural Community’, L.A. Times
It does appear that many of those arriving illegally find work in the burgeoning fields and orchards of the ‘savior bee’.
—‘Are Bees Key to Immigrant Surge?’, Newsweek
Productivity just happens to be booming in one of the few areas robotics is yet to comprehensively figure out: labor-intensive and difficult to pick crops like cherries, apples, and almonds.
—‘Robotics’ Achilles Heel is Beemigrants’ Boon’, WIRED
One of the few areas still reliant on low-skilled foreign workers is therefore also one of the fastest growing.
—‘New Trends in Illegal Immigration’, Pew Research Centre
‘We’re sure this is all just an innocent coincidence.’
—‘Internet Calls for Calm, Common Sense on Beemigrant Issue’, The Onion
XI
Let’s talk ‘Trojan Bee’.
—Infowars
The open-border craving globalists, through multinationals like Monsanto and Bayer, dramatically and deliberately reduced the US honeybee population via neonicotinoids, thus goading the Mainstream Media into ‘bee-pocalypse’ hysteria.
—‘Globalist Pesticides Were behind Massive Honeybee Die-off’, Zero Hedge
Then came the secret release of a genetically modified bee, one lab-designed to radically boost the productivity of certain crops reliant on cheap foreign labor.
—‘The Dark Agenda of the Trojan Bee’, Alt-Market
Distracted by the ‘gift’ of this ‘savior’, and the ‘endangered’ crops it has supposedly saved, the American public was primed to accept the filthy hordes crossing in the bees’ wake.
—‘The Trojan Takeover Has Bee-gun’, Daily Stormer
With the borders now successfully overrun by illegal aliens, the loony left and the globalist MSM cabal are attempting to deflect via their favourite manufactured culprit: climate change.
—‘BUZZ-KILL: Who Are These Bees really “Saving?”’, Breitbart
XII
Scientists have determined that climate change, and not the so-called ‘savior bee’, is the main cause of our boosted crop yields.
—MSNBC
Whereas most tropical regions have experienced production losses due to rising temperatures, production in temperate regions is benefiting from the warmer climate and longer growing seasons.
—‘UN Report Identifies Where Global Harvests Have Risen’, Centre for American Progress
An atmosphere with more CO2 boosts crop yield in the short term via increased rates of photosynthesis.
—‘How Climate Change Actually Helps Some Farmers’, Scientific American
Fleeing the devastating heat and drought of their natural habitats, melipona beecheii arrived at a fecund region desperate for pollinators.
—‘Our Opportunistic “Saviors”’, Think Progress
These ‘refubees’ moved north because our farmland could save them, not vice versa. And they’re not alone.
—‘Savior Bee or Refubee?’, Huffington Post
XIII
Like the bees before them, there is a simple reason migrants—or ‘beemigrants’—are travelling north en masse: desperation.
—‘The Truth About These “Beemigrants”’, Mother Jones
In the settlement of Plan de Jocote, Chiquimula, Gloria Diaz’s crops didn’t produce a single grain of corn.
—‘Changing Climate Is Behind Migration Surge’, Guardian
It’s the height of monsoon season in Mexico, but in the village of Zapopan, the rains came months too late, then stopped altogether.
—‘Linkages among climate change, crop yields and Mexican migration’, PNAS
After a season of merciless drought, and with his starving family surviving only on the dwindling mantiocas they could find in the surrounding scrubland, Juan Uribe Francisco was left with no other choice but to head north.
—‘Tracing the Beemigrant’, National Geographic
There is no mystery here, no conspiracy. There are just desperate people looking for our help at the exact same moment we need theirs.
—‘Let’s Squash the “Trojan Bee”’, San Francisco Chronicle
XIV
A shortage of migrant workers is resulting in lost crops in California.
—‘Californian Crops Rot due to Immigrant Farmworker Shortage’, Fortune
Despite the recent migration surge, farmers with record yields are still struggling to get enough hands on board, and Americans appear to have no interest in picking fruit.
—‘Can Immigration Reform Fix the Agricul-tural Job Shortage?’, Wall Street Journal
United States agriculture cannot afford to waste this opportunity. If American workers are unwillingly to help, you need to increase our migrant workforce ASAP.
—Jerry Waterford Jr., Testimony to Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration
Under pressure from the agricultural lobby and the public outcry over rotting crops, Congress passed a historic law today that drastically simplifies the H2A farmworker visa process, essentially giving instant employment to the thousands of asylum seekers detained along our southern border.
—‘Congress Passes ‘Farmworker Shortage’ Bill, Real Clear Politics
Predictably, not everyone is pleased.
—‘The Alt-Right Has Absolutely Flipped Its Lid over this New Farmworker Law’, BuzzFeed
XV
Welp, the puppet cucks in Congress just bent America over and lubed her up.
—Gab
No one can still credibly claim that the ‘Trojan Bee’ is a conspiracy theory. It’s not even a theory anymore—it’s an event happening before our very eyes.
—YouTube
We’re screwed. Time to start learning Spanish, amigos.
—4chan
Good news: the upcoming midterms are an opportunity to protest this BS.
Bad news: who the f ya gonna vote 4?????
Riding the wave of anger over recent visa reform, anti-immigrant third-party candidates are popping up all over the country.
—‘Midterms Rocked by Angry New Party’, Nation
XVI
This new political force in America is vehemently anti-immigrant and, yes, anti-bees.
—‘What Exactly Does the Bread Party Want?’, Salon
A dark thread of conspiracy weaves through their political views. In their world, the recent H2A bill is proof of a ‘globalist’ conspiracy to promote immigrant anarchy via boosted agriculture yields.
—Introducing (sigh) the “Bread Party”, New Republic
#3: Demand that all genetically modified anthophilas be destroyed, and that those operating the labs face criminal punishment.
—Shut the Gates, Purge the Fields: A Bread Party Manifesto
Their unhinged and hyperbolic manifesto explains that ‘bread’ represents ‘but one of the many wholesome products Americans can still enjoy once our immigrant infestation has been purged’.
—‘Explaining the Dumbest Name in Politics’, Vox
Aside from believing in far-fetched conspiracy theories, supporters also adhere to a boycott on all food products relying on bees.
—‘Inside the Strange World of the Bread Party’, Vogue
XVII
Patriot-purge complete: strawberries, almonds, apples, blueberries, all night-night down the garbage disposal.
—r/bread_party
[Safeway employees sniffing in fruit section, looking confused]
Them: did someone piss on these melons?
me:
#BPRise
This is the fourth Missoula fruit store this week to be tagged with swastikas.
—KPAX Nightly News
What do we eat? Bread! What do we grow? Wheat!
—Bread Party Rally, Mobile, Ala.
We are officially redundant.
—‘Every Satirist Everywhere Retires’, The Onion
XVIII
Brad Hardigan (R) 59 per cent, Sally Litchfield (D) 31 per cent, Elijah Mason (B) 10 per cent.
—Mid-term results, Mobile County, Ala.
Election night was a resounding disapprobation of this new party’s toxic worldview.
—‘Bread Party Fails to Rise’, The New York Times Magazine
Despite encouraging returns in some southern states, their cocktail of nativist fury and tinfoil gobbledegook is unlikely to ever tempt mainstream voters.
—‘Bread Party Stuck with Heel of Midterm Loaf’, FiveThirtyEight
They may have been roundly defeated, but those writing off the bread party do so at their own peril.
—‘Still Plenty of Slices Left for Bread Party’, The Weekly Standard
Worryingly, their poor election results seem to have only deepened their conspiratorial tendencies.
—‘Bread Party Hardens Conspiracy Crust’, Economist
XIX
Across the country, Bread Party candidates are refusing to concede, claiming electoral fraud.
—‘Bread Party Seeks Midterm Recount’, NPR
Mississippi candidate Timothy McKee, who lost in the state’s 4th congressional district, today said that ‘illegals voted early and they voted often’.
—‘Bread Party: Illegal Immigrants Swayed Election’, Clarion-Ledger
A Bread Party demonstration in Charleston turned violent today, as supporters brawled with Antifa protestors outside the West Virginia state capitol building.
—WDVM News
They are so far down the road of this ridiculous conspiracy that it is hard to say what will happen when reality hits.
—‘The Bread Party Has Nowhere to Go’, American Prospect
Citing no evidence to support claims of widespread voter fraud, the voting integrity commission today rejected the possibility of special recounts.
—Report: ‘No “Significant” Voting Fraud in Midterms’, Bloomberg
XX
Juan Uribe Francisco, 30; Carlos Gomez Garcia, 31; Julio Ernesto Acuna Garcia, 23; Javier Hernandez, 25; Enrique Hernandez Lopez Obrador, 28; Nelson Roberto Espinal Matamoros, 34; Anabell Pineda, 26; Joaquin Sabina, 37; Jose Luis Tepeu, 22; Andres Luis Videgaray, 30.
—‘These Are the Victims of the Waterford Nut Shooting’, People
Witnesses say that Mr Rogen was shooting at workers and bees alike.
—‘Waterford Nut Shooter Feared “Bee-vasion”’, Huffington Post
He was a registered Bread Party member, and his posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Gab echoed alt-right conspiracies such as the ‘trojan bee’.
—‘Did the Bread Party Cause the Waterford Nut Shooting?’, Daily Kos
In a final, chilling post he claimed that ‘beelegals’ would pay for ‘stealing the election’.
—‘The Last Days of the Waterford Nut Shooter’, USA Today
One can only pray that this is a turning point, and that the extreme fringes of our political spectrum learn to tone down their rhetoric.
—‘The Tragic Lesson of the “Trojan Bee”’, The New Yorker
XXI
Two words: false flag.
—Infowars
A guy walks into a busy orchard with an AK-17 and only kills eight people? #WaterfordNot
Sure, it’s not at all suspicious that his social media postings parrot ‘trojan bee’ theories verbatim.
—The Details of That Almond Shooting Are … Weird, Daily Wire
Notice how the ‘victims’ are all illegals no one can trace?
—r/bread_party
A false flag is always an attempt by those in power to trick the public into fearing something. In this case: us.
—‘Bread Party Calls “False Flag” on Waterford Nut Shooting’, Gateway Pundit
XXII
In a rare display of unanimity, Congress passed legislation today effectively barring the Bread Party from American politics.
—‘Congress Bans Controversial Party’, Politico
The Bread Party Control Act ‘criminalizes membership in, or support for the party, and defines evidence to be considered by a jury in determining participation in the activities, actions, objectives, or purposes of said party.’
—‘The Bread Party is Cooked’, Daily Beast
The new legislation is based on the Communist Control Act of 1954.
—‘Yes, There Is Precedence for Kicking out a Political Party’, Slate
While some—in the wake of the Waterford Nut Shooting—see necessary action, others fret that extreme measures could have adverse consequences.
—‘Out of the Frying Pan, into the Oven?’, Economist
Lock and load.
—r/bread_party
XXIII
There is shock and horror in the Michigan blueberry region tonight.
—NBC Detroit
Mourners have lit candles and placed wreaths outside of this family-owned alfalfa farm.
—CBS Des Moines
A once-peaceful cherry orchard is now a ghastly crime scene.
—NBC Portland
Napa Valley is stunned by this latest outbreak of violence, the tenth to occur across the country this week alone.
—Fox Oakland
Miguel Angel Gonzalo, 27; Tom Huckleberg, 47; Jill Huckleberg, 42; Janice Huckleberg, 13; Tom Huckleberg Jr, 6; Gabriel LaTorre, 29; Paulo Torreria, 35; Francisco Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez, 20; Alejandro Ricardo Sanchez, 34.
—‘These Are the Victims of the Huckleberg Apple Shooting’, People
XXIV
Is this really how America falls apart? Over bees?
—‘Are We at War?’, Chicago Tribune
This time, the terrorists are us.
—‘Nothing to Fear but Fear Ourselves’, The Atlantic
A preposterous conspiracy theory—about bees no less—has exposed the fault lines of our tenuous Union.
—‘The Stupid War We’ve Long Had Coming’, Intelligencer
The more vehement the denials of the ‘trojan bee’, the more violent the response seems to be.
—‘This War Will Not Be Won by Logic’, ProPublica
By the conflict’s end, the death toll stood at near ten thousand humans as well as countless numbers of bees.
—‘From Pizzagate to the Trojan Bee: Ten Conspiracy Theories that Turned Deadly’, Listverse
Alex Cothren is a PhD candidate in creative writing at Flinders University. A winner of both the Carmel Bird and Peter Carey awards for short fiction, he has been published in Meanjin, Overland Online, The Conversation and Australian Book Review.
This story was the winner of the 2019 Peter Carey Short Story Award.
