> Half the hives dead in the U.S.? 
> Am I the only person concerned?

And yet the 780,000 bearing acres of California almonds
http://tinyurl.com/bqv6vug was still adequately pollinated
according to this March 6 article: http://tinyurl.com/d44g639

> To say PPB (PISS POOR BEEKEEPING)  is what is going on
> in my opinion is laughable.

The article attributed the slight almond bee shortage to:

"Pest control — of varroa mites in hives — has been 
problematic. And in the upper Midwest, drought and 
loss of foraging land to corn and ethanol production 
have affected bees."

The loss of foraging land to corn and ethanol production
occurred because the EPA's ethanol mandate requires 
increasing volumes of biofuels to be blended into the fuel 
supply each year through 2022: http://tinyurl.com/bluexut

Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.

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