The problem that native pollinator advocates have is when they shift 
from small scale pollination to the mono-culture today. Many of the 
vegetables and fruits I grow do not solely rely on my bees but get good 
pollination from "native pollinators". But the number of plants and the 
number of pollinators is fairly well in balance. (However, I did notice 
a substantial increase in yields after I started keeping bees.)

Small plots are fine, but go to almonds in California or 
blueberries/raspberries/cranberries on the NE US and you have growers 
clamoring for honeybees.

Add squash, apples and other crops that got by because there were 
honeybees in the area which Varroa killed off. They were not being 
pollinated by native pollinators but had a mix, including honeybees.

When you look closely at native pollinators, you just cannot achieve the 
saturation needed for commercially grown crops without tremendous 
expense compared to honeybees. Solitary bees are often touted  as a 
replacement for honeybees on the Maine blueberry fields because they are 
more efficient pollinators (a standard phrase and true). There was even 
a nice study done by a University Professor solitary bee advocate that 
proved they increase blueberry yields. Only problem with the study was 
it was done in a field where honeybees were also pollinating and before 
the growers learned that they were still below optimum for number of 
colonies per acre. From a scientific point of view it was a terribly 
designed study. From an advocacy POV, it was perfect.

Many native pollinator groups come from the same gene pool- the 
small/sustainable/organic/I HATE BIG AG crowd. Commercial pollinators 
are their main competitor, so honeybees are, by association, not on 
their most loved pollinator list.

They also tend to live in a wold inhabited by my University Professor 
solitary bee advocate. In small scale agriculture they think it is all 
native pollinators, when, in truth, honeybees are probably a major part. 
There is no way anyone can say that one agricultural crop is pollinated 
by just native pollinators when honeybees are in the area. If you look 
at small stands of blueberries, they all are being pollinated by 
bumblebees. But go to the commercial fields and it is honeybees. Same 
with alpha and leafcutters. Honeybees play an important part in that 
pollination, but as an adjunct.

Squash growers in Maine were of the native pollinator group until Varroa 
and they saw their crops dwindle. They were getting free pollination 
from local beekeepers or feral bees. Native pollinators could not do it, 
even after several years. Same with apples. Now all want honeybees.

The main problem with native pollinators is economy of scale. As long as 
you keep it small, they will do the job, but move into what is actually 
sustainable agriculture which has the ability to feed all of us not just 
20%, native pollinators cannot do it, as the Squash, Blueberry, 
Raspberry, Cranberry, Apple and Almond growers (naming only a few that I 
know of locally and the List) learned.

In my opinion, and I seldom have any, the issue is the same that we see 
here often, which is the small guy in touch with Gaia (not to be 
confused with Gia, an Islamist terrorist group) against BIG AGRICULTURE. 
Anything big is by definition evil, and we need to return to the earth 
and die young but thin.

Might there be a reason native pollinator agriculture in the Americas 
was fairly limited, along with the population, until the arrival of the 
honeybee? Maybe the honeybee and beekeeping is the foundation for all 
advanced civilization?

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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