Where have the Honey Bees gone to?

[csgray]

The point I was trying to make, and I probably wasn't clear enough, is that a very high level of honey bees and profitable bee keepers is needed to pollinate mainland commercial farm operations on a large enough scale to allow us to eat affordable apples, almond milk, and tomato sauce. That industry is being is being threatened by a variety of factors, including Bayer's Clothianidin and Imidaclopride pesticides, according to recent scientific studies. We here in Hawaii rely on those foods, as do people all over the world, and without the efficient industrial scale pollinators that commercial honey bees are, those crops will no longer be profitable. So backyard gardeners may still get a few tomatoes, especially if they are willing to hand pollinate, but $5 a jar pasta sauce will be a thing of the past.

Hawaii agriculture relies more on feral bees, but they are clearly being impacted if the anecdotal evidence given here is to be believed. So we had massive mango bloom this year, yet people are seeing very few mangoes. When I toured Kona coffee farms honey bees seemed to be their main pollinators. Other pollinators may or may not pick up the slack fast enough to save commercial papaya production, and Kona coffee, but we get most of our food from the mainland, which is clearly being impacted by the loss of honey bees.

Just Google nicotinoids honeybees for some really depressing reading.

Carol