this was reported a couple of months ago but i just heard about it on the radio today because they're having a hearing in washington about the disappearing/dying bee colonies. apparently 3/4 of all flowering plants (and most fruit, grain and vegetable crops) rely on bees for pollination. for some unknown reason(s) the bees are leaving their colonies. i had no idea that so many farmers rely on traveling beekeepers to pollinate their crops. could this be some sort of under the radar, natural disaster affecting the food supply? how serious of an issue do you guys think this is? here's an article i found from february.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/11/AR2007021100650.html

From what I've read it's serious, but they'll have a problem fingering one cause. Mites, Roundup in GM crops and beekeepers traveling a lot. What did it?

Serious long term assessment?

Best case scenario, wind pollenated crops will turn to key staples, a lot of vegans are going to starve to death or change their mind, and cattle feed prices will go thought the roof as hay harvests get worse and worse (alfalfa and clover both rely on insect pollination).

Worst case scenario, we're all just screwed.

Check out my earlier posts: Food Shortages on page 2 or 3 of this long term preparations section.

the head of the beekeepers union in Europe gives the world
4 years of life if the bees go down for good..note he said
"world" and not "people"..no plant reproduction--no nothing.

Pesticides, "killer bees," increased urbanization... more causes than answers.

Hopefully (!!!) if it's a slow enough progression, some other insect can step up and fill in the ecological void. If not, I'd better stock up on frozen dinners.

There are other species that can step in, but they aren't as easy to domesticate because they don't hive. Honey production is nil.

I just checked our orange tree in the back yard and there are bees all over it, one tree and about a dozen bees. That's not an indicator of the health of the bee industry -- as far as I know those are wild bees, not kept bees.

I checked the CA Dept of Food and Agriculture site and in response to the Euro Honey Bee problem they are considering using BumbleBees. There are options, we just need to explore them (not exploit them).

"...if it's a slow enough progression..."

Some beekeepers have lost 25% of their bees, some have lost 90%. Some haven't lost any. Everyone seems in a panic about the honeybees, but are any other kinds of bees being affected? And if they aren't, why not?

A rather odd addition to the equation: colony collapse disorder is also a problem in Spain and Poland, but not England, France, Italy, Germany... so far. One thing that came to my mind (possibly incorrect): America and Spain are both into GM crops. England has forbidden them, and the European Agricultural Union apparently tried them but the people won't buy GM crops.

The more I read about GM crops, the scarier it looks. Apparently, it has been clearly proven that the DNA from GM crops can be absorbed by ingesting a single meal of the crop, AND it can be acquired from inhaling the pollen or working with the crop during processing.

Here's a letter regarding GM crops that is very interesting, "Open Letter from World Scientists to All Governments":
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/let2000-cn.htm

IOW, GM crops = our tax dollars at work.

Sue

Some of what I've heard is that the others are being hit. I haven't seen a wild hive in at least a decade, and there used to be at least one on the my parents land when I was a kid.

GM is all about control in the form of patents $$$ You can't patent nature so you modify it to something you can patent. If it gets all screwed up in the process. . .