QUOTED:

> Recent concerns of a global decline in pollinator abundance have been raised by the accumulation of related regional evidence, including a drop in the number of domestic honey-bee colonies in the USA, a reduction in the abundance and diversity of wild bees in Europe, and a plethora of studies from around the world showing local decreases in pollinators due to habitat fragmentation and agricultural intensification. As a consequence, the implication that agricultural production may suffer from an intensifying pollination shortage has received much media attention, becoming an issue of widespread interest and concern. 

> As a reflection of these concerns, the term "pollination crisis" was coined to highlight the potential effects of a global pollinator decline on the human food supply. Regrettably, despite increasing claims of global pollinator declines, the data needed to assess global changes in the abundance and diversity of wild pollinators are not currently available.  -- Current Biology 19, 915–918, June 9, 2009 

More recently, it has been stated by Clare Kremen:

> Over the last two decades, evidence of native pollinator decline has grown dramatically worldwide (1,2). These declines are of critical concern for humanity. -- PNAS | January 8, 2013 | vol. 110 | no. 2 | 555–558

Interestingly the evidence she cites is her own work:

> There is clear evidence for severe regional declines in domestic honey bee stocks in the USA (59% loss of colonies between 1947 and 2005) and Europe (25% loss of colonies in central Europe between 1985 and 2005,) making the dependence of agricultural crops, and possibly wild plants, on a single species worrisome. -- Trends in Ecology and Evolution Vol.25 No.6

What is notable about this statement is that despite the loss of 59% of the colonies in the USA, or about 3 million hives, the work of pollinating the nations crops is getting done. With the high value of pollinating units at present, there is no indication that the number will fall below 2.5 million hives. If it were to rise, on the other hand, the price offered to beekeepers for pollination would fall, and we would start back down. Obviously, these numbers are market driven. 

Pete

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