>In fact they have risen astronomically for bees in almonds. However, this is due to vastly increased acreages of almonds planted in California. Actually, not quite right. The increase acreage came on steadily and slowly, with pollination fees rising for many years at about $2 per year. The sudden spike was due to lack of live hives, not to a sudden increase in bearing acreage. The spike happened when colonies began to crash in the fall of 2004. > It is probably exacerbated by the long term drought in California which makes it difficult to maintain large numbers of colonies in state. True. > Meanwhile, pollination fees for other crops have not risen After almonds, there is a glut of bees looking for places to put them. The low pollination prices for other crops are subsidized by the almond growers. Without the demand for almonds, no telling what pollination prices would be for other crops. There will likely be a shortage of native pollinators in any large monoculture, simply due to lack of suitable habitat and forage. -- Randy Oliver Grass Valley, CA www.ScientificBeekeeping.com *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html