Looming Disaster: U.S. Bee Population Threatens Fruit Supply

Un-busy bees a disaster for almost everyone by Carolyn Lochhead, SF Chronicle Washington Bureau:

Honeybees mysteriously began to abandon their colonies in 2006, destroying about a third of U.S. hives. The rate of decline is accelerating, reaching 36 percent last winter.

"How would our federal government respond if 1 out of every 3 cows was dying?" Maryann Frazier, a bee expert at the University of Pennsylvania, asked during testimony to the House subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture.

Fruits, nuts, seeds and many vegetables are the foundation of California's $34 billion agricultural industry, the nation's largest, and the basis of a healthy human diet. About a third of human food requires pollination. The plants cannot grow without it.