How has the decline in the honeybee population affected farmers in the United States?

MANY crops are pollinated by bees. Fruits and vegetables of ALL kinds, to mention just a few. No bees to pollinate, no crops. There are bee keeping companies that do nothing except transport bees from place to place so the bees can do their thing for crops.

@kritiper Actually I just heard that some mosquitos can pollinate.

@RedDeerGuy1 There are lots of species, mammals included, that can pollinate and many species that could be dying off now. Who’s to say mosquitos aren’t one of them? And mosquitos, that breed in stagnant water, might be able to pollinate, but could farmers control them enough, like they do bees, to get the crops pollinated? Bees do a REALLY good job!

I can tell you my first hand experience.
Iu ave a ½ acre apple orchard with about 50 full sized trees. . A couple of years ago around Thanksgiving I had to cut down a large Basswood (American Linden) tree that was leaning dangerously toward a structure. I called in a pro service which started at the top and worked their way down to the bottom. When they made the cut about 6 ft off the ground, they sliced into a tremendous undiscovered honey bee nest. The temperature was just below freezing. After a couple of hours you could find dead bees on top of the snow for at least 100 meters in all directions. Sadly that hive never recovered.
Six month later In the Spring my trees blossomed as usual but produced very few apples. :-(
Things have recovered so somehow another hive somewhere is doing the job.
Thank you bees!

Many people where I live have started their own beehives. I’ve heard some of the younger group discussing doing their own pollination. It sounds like a lot of slow & tedious work, but they feel that it is helping them. We no longer have many farmers in the area but I have noticed an upswing in homesteaders who do have small gardens. I have no knowledge as to what the farmers are doing to combat the problem.

I did notice that last summer that the bees were beginning to show back up in my yard. This summer they have doubled in size. I have 5 perennials that haven’t bloomed for the last 5 years, but they did bloom this year. Hadn’t thought about it being the bees but maybe they helped!!!