> Alfalfa pollination <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollination> is
somewhat problematic, however, because Western honey bee, the most
commonly used pollinator, are not suitable for this purpose

Unfortunately, this is not true.<

We have a very mixed plant community for our bees.  This includes alfalfa. 
This past year we had enough alfalfa blooming that I watched it very close. 
As long as the bees had other forage blooming they would not use the 
alfalfa.  When I started collecting seed this fall the alfalfa was almost 
totally devoid of seed.  Most years I can collect several pounds of a very 
tough drought resistant alfalfa seed.  The big difference this year was 
sainfoin.  Its bloom period totally overlapped with the alfalfa.  In one 
spot on our place the two were side by side.  The sainfoin was full of bees, 
the alfalfa devoid of bees.  In a large field setting honey bees can produce 
a very good seed crop.  In our 1/2 acre fields it would take some bloom 
period management to get good seed set.  I have seen this same sort of thing 
in onion seed fields in Arizona.  The seed fields are planted in the middle 
of large tracts of non-blooming crops and the bee hives are placed heavily 
around the onions.  I have raised my own onion variety for more than 20 
years.  Now that I have such a diverse forage community for the bees I have 
a difficult time getting enough onion seed to maintain my line.
Dave

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