>> I'd be *most* interested to see the data underlying the oft-repeated
>> claim that 1/3 of our food requires bee pollination.

> McGregor was the source of the quote: 'it appears that perhaps one-third
> of our total diet is dependent, directly or indirectly, upon
> insect-pollinated plants'.  See here for more details:
> http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/book/econ.html
>
> I looked at the FAO figures, and it is clear that the big crops are wind
> or self-pollinated - but that large numbers of crop species (many more
> than a third) are insect pollinated.

That was fast!  Thanks. -- And Good!

Actually, I should have known where that came from, and I can see you have
given this a lot of thought.

I guess my problem is with the people who have translated that reasonable,
educated and carefully worded guess, which appears to apply to the number of
food items in our diet, into colourful sound bites that suggest that one of
every three spoonsful of food would somehow disappear if something happened
to the honeybee..

Maybe this is a topic for a detailed grad study, since there is a lot
research and number crunching necessary to get anywhere accurate numbers on
the real contribution of honey bees -- IMO anyhow.

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