The world’s bee populations have been under stress in recent years, fueling concerns over the future of agriculture. The combination of colony collapse disorder—the cause of which remains disputed—and expanded use of certain classes of pesticides have fuelled sharp die-offs in bee populations in Europe and the United States. In response, the European Union imposed a temporary ban on neonicotinoid pesticides believed to be harmful to bee populations, and researchers at Washington State University of proposed a bee sperm bank to attempt to preserve the genetic line of bee populations. In the meantime, bee populations continue to fall.
What many people don’t realize is how dependent we are on bees for agriculture. In an effort to illustrate the scope of the problem posed by the loss of bee populations, the University Heights (Rhode Island) Whole Foods Market store temporarily removed produce dependent on bees for pollination services. In…
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