>while I submit the pollination needs for US crops has been vastly overestimated.

Likely so.  But again I ask, most studies find benefit in yield with
additional bee pollination, so what is *optimal* pollination?

I'm playing Devil's Advocate here, Pete, for the sake of discussion.

* * *

Yes, well, me too. I am a beekeeper of forty years. I think the value that honey bees and other pollinations provide is incalculable. The death of bees concerns me as much or more than anyone. But -- I think that any case has to be based on facts, not emotion or hyperbole. 

I think a very strong case can be made that on average one hive of bees per acre is needed for most crops. Almonds may require more, other crops less especially if there are already abundant pollinators. It there is a million acres of crops in the US that require bees at this rate, then a million colonies are needed. 

If there are three million hives in the US then we have three times as many bees as we need, not even counting the wild pollinators, of which there are many, especially in summer.The decline of colonies from 6 million to 3 million did not have the predicted impact. Many of the predictions of the fifties and sixties did not come about.

When people make predictions they are very keen on taking recent trends and running with them. But without putting things into perspective, you simply cannot get the big picture. There have been huge losses of bees in the past and they were not directly linked with any consequences, other than the increase of prices for honey and pollination.

Could all pollinators die off and leave the crops inadequately pollinated? There are isolated cases of this, such as the much repeated situation in China where plants were hand pollinated. I simply think this scenario is way overplayed. 

Unfortunately, in all of these discussions, the talk revolves around commercial beekeepers and their problems getting bees strong enough to pollinate crops, and sideliners who have their own set of problems. 

Nobody ever talks about the package and nuc producers in all of this. They must be sitting pretty well these days, with the price of nucs and packages over $100. In 1968, a package sold for around $4 and you could get queens in spring for a dollar. 

Pete

Wishing I had bees to sell

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