Excerpt from CSM:
Ultimately, pollination went smoothly this year. Imported bees replenished domestic stocks,
and good weather aided weak hives. Research on CCD has progressed, though its exact
causes remain hidden. But the crisis did highlight what some say is agriculture's overreliance
on honeybees.
Honeybees pollinate one-third of all US crops – apples, almonds, and blueberries
among them – valued at some $14.6 billion. For years, ecologists had warned
that total reliance on honeybees – and on any monoculture, be it cotton, potato,
or bee – makes a crop vulnerable to failure. Potential alternate pollinators – some 4,000
kinds of native bees – were having their own problems, from habitat loss and
pesticides to imported diseases.
Alarmed lawmakers introduced the Pollinator Protection Act into Congress,
which was later rolled into the 2007 Farm Bill. In July, the House authorized $86.5 million
over five years for research on CCD and honeybee health. In October, the Senate raised the
amount to $100 million. Meanwhile, scientists from several institutions and
disciplines brought their expertise to bear on CCD. And in September, they named
a prime suspect: the so-called Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV).
As for this year's crop, "I don't want to say it was business as usual, but it was pretty close,"
says Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture magazine in Medina, Ohio. "There were enough bees
to pollinate everything that needed pollinating."
page 2 has more info on helping the bees
whole article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1108/p13s01-sten.html