The decline of the honey bee, particularly across Europe and the United States, has drawn much attention and is becoming a huge international concern.
Far more significant and wide reaching than just the production of honey, around a third of global food production is, to some degree, dependent on animal pollination, with a significant proportion of this being done by honey bees.
Over recent years reports have surfaced around the globe of the sharp decrease in the number of honey bees. As far back as 2006, the phenomenon known as ‘colony collapse disorder’ has resulted in enormous losses around the globe. The rate of bee colonies not surviving the winter appears to be increasing each year, with some of the worst effected beekeepers reporting losses of up 90%.
The reason for the fall in bee numbers remains subject to further investigation, with most academics perceiving multiple reasons for the declining populations. One of the most popular theories has attributed the problem to factors such as the varroa mite and other insect viruses, which can kill off entire colonies. But modern farming, with its dependency on fertilizers and other chemicals, has also being blamed.
A major consequence in the decline in honey bee numbers will be a shortage pollination, which will impact pollination-dependent crops, such as apples, pears and cocoa.
Around 90 agricultural crops – apples, blueberries, coffee, etc – representing one-third of global food production volume, are, in some way, dependent on animal pollination. There are several animals species responsible for pollination, but the domesticated honey bee is easily the most important: accounting for an average of 80-90% of total animal pollination.
The impact of pollination varies between crops, with some crops, such as almonds and melons being highly dependent; while others such as oranges and grapefruits, requiring pollinations for better size and quality.
Over the past 50 years, the global production of pollination-dependent crops has grown at an accelerated pace, relative to the overall growth of food production.
This trend is expected to continue and as such, sustainable methods for maintaining pollinating animal numbers must be developed.
This is a global issue, one that will have an inherent economic impact. To solve the problem, a greater level of cooperation is required between the academic world, governmental bodies, apiarist and companies directly dependent on pollination.