OldLady
Diamond Member
- Nov 16, 2015
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Europe has found that the bee population is rising now that it has banned certain pesticides. I cannot remember the details. Hopefully, we will do so soon.I looked up Mason bees and Honeybees, and it was informative. Thanks.Yeah? When is the last time you ate lettuce? Celery? C'mon. And flies aren't attracted to flowers. They congregate on...well, you know.Okay, you're right, only a third. That's still a lot to miss, isn't it? I don't like bees either up close--especially not in my car. But they are seriously important. And 90% of wild plants, which are the fodder of most insects and wild animals....it would be a terrible cave-in if all our wild plants were to vanish.
Cross-pollination helps at least 30 percent of the world's crops and 90 percent of our wild plants to thrive.2 Without bees to spread seeds, many plants—including food crops—would die off.
https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/bees.pdf
As far as food crops, flies and other types of bees can take care of the ones that need pollinators. They just aren't as commercial scale friendly delivering the best results at the least expense and who the hell would want to be around swarms of flies. I am not advocating for the destruction of anything mind you. I am just pointing out that there is a lot of mythology that comes with the honey bees as a critical critter. There are a few nuts and fruits that are highly dependent on honey bees specifically, but when was the last time you ate a quince? They are vile. As for the story in the OP, my guess is it was done by either someone within the organization with a grudge or a commercial beekeep near by who didn't want to lose business to this bee co-op group.
I don't think it's mythology that bees are necessary for successful crops. I live in wild blueberry land, and every year they bring in hives of bees to pollinate the plants in late May/early June. We have plenty of flies. If that worked, no one would pay for bees.
You do realize you picked the two worst crops if you are trying to make a point because lettuce and celery are inedible once they go to seed? You eat them before a bee ever sees them. Mason bees do quite fine as pollinators as do bumble bees. You just want to justify the honey bee being critical because of the indoctrination fed to you by big business.
Mason bees have their drawbacks when it comes to replacing pollinators in large farms, but I guess they're working on that.
The big problem with these superfarms is they destroy habitat for pollinators and/or kill natural pollinators in their pest control programs. That a handful of chemical companies own half the world's seed production is unnerving to me. When people say, "I only plant heritage varieties...." I think "and Bayar/Monsanto owns quite a few of them too...."