Hanna’s article points to a central theme of our times in terms of how the media deals with the issue of food security. While it’s true that the ever increasing world population and the accompanying demand for some pollinator dependent foods are at odds, it’s not impossible to imagine that pollinators and crop management can find a balance and coexist. Although some may disagree, almonds stand as an example of a pollinator dependent crop that seems to coexist with bees as demand increases.

Anyway, I’ve always thought that the emphasis on a pollinator issue resulting in world food shortages is missing the obvious looming threat that it will likely be a water shortage that empties the selves first. 


> This leaves us with a delicate balance to navigate. We want to achieve high crop yields. This is not only important for food security and farmer incomes, but also brings important ecological benefits: it means we need less farmland and we can spare habitat for wildlife. The catch is that achieving high crop yields often requires some agricultural inputs such as fertilizers or pesticides; inputs that could potentially reduce pollinator populations. A decline in pollinators would in turn, reduce yields.

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