> Even the information about bee health seems to come from the USA, "the global number of bee colonies has actually remained stable over the past 15 years" (unsubstantiated).
Is this a coherent sentence? The global numbers do not come from the USA, they come from the FAO. There is no bee decline among populations in the southern hemisphere. The regions with the highest declines are Europe and North America, where most reporters seem to live.
In these areas colony numbers depend on a thriving beekeeping industry which in turn depends on demand. If there is low demand for honey and pollination, numbers decline. That is, except in regions with thriving feral populations, such as Asia, Africa and South America.
I would suggest that people in both Europe and North America ought to open their eyes a bit and become aware of the global picture. China is the world's largest producer of apples.
production in tonnes
China 35,987,221
USA 4,272,840
India 2,891,000
Turkey 2,680,080
Poland 2,493,080
Italy 2,411,200
They are number two in citrus
Brazil 20,682,309
China 19,617,100
USA 10,017,000
Mexico 6,851,000
India 6,286,000
Spain 5,703,600
China is number one in honey production
China 398,000 (26%)
EU 203,600 (13%)
Africa 179,400 (12%)
Turkey 81,115 (5.3%)
USA 79,800 (5.2%)
Ukraine 70,800 (4.6%)
Argentina is also a major honey producer, but extreme climatic conditions such as drought and floods caused production to drop from 110,000 MTs to 59,000 MTs (or by 46%) from 2005-2010.
* * *
> Chinese farm production rose to $759,94 billion in 2008, the latest year for which figures are available, from $584,25 billion in 2007, according to a note by the WTO secretariat, circulated on the WTO website and dated February 23.
> The latest figure for the 27-member European Union's food output is $248,69 billion in 2000, the year China overtook it with $268,15 billion. Figures from some individual EU members suggest the EU may have regained the lead a year or so later only for China to pull ahead again conclusively by mid-decade.
> US agricultural production was $311,23 billion in 2007, the latest year for which data are available, up from $246,57 billion in 2006 - China was already ahead of the US in 1995 when the WTO series starts.
No excuse for not being aware of the global economy
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