Again, I would refer to Ferrier, Rucker, Thurman, & Burgett (2018):
An unexpected increase in honey bee colony winter mortality rates in the mid-2000s resulted in an increase in pollination service fees, in particular for almonds.
Although higher costs of managing honey bees are certainly undesirable, increased pollination fees provide direct offsetting benefits and also serve to provide beekeepers with the incentive to replace their lost colonies and to direct colonies to their highest valued uses, in the process minimizing downstream effects on food markets in the short run. In the long run, insofar as increased pollination fees result in higher wholesale prices, food retailers will be motivated to search out substitutes for pollinated food items.
The lack of major changes in most economic indicators in the years since CCD appeared suggests that adjustments in beekeeping, farming, wholesale production, and consumption have been made quickly and effectively. Direct evidence suggests that most of the adjustment has occurred at the level of the beekeeper, with less adjustment at downstream levels in the production and marketing chain.
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Rucker, Thurman, & Burgett have been analyzing and writing on this topic since at least 2001. See: Rucker, R. R., Thurman, W. N., & Burgett, M. (2001). An Empirical Analysis of Honeybee Pollination Markets (No. 374-2016-19793).
PLB
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