I am a beekeeper and the problem is mostly hype. Disappearing disease hits bees periodically and in some areas severely reduces the population. No one really knows what causes it but the bees come back just fine. Almond pollination requires about a million colonies. The Almonds were pollinated. There was not a major shortage of colonies. The same for the east coast and blueberry pollination which requires about 60,000 colonies. There will be no shortage of colonies.
There is a problem but it is with the Varroa and Tracheal mites. Varroa controls have lost their effectiveness and most of the losses can be attributed to it. Tracheal has been under the radar for a long time, since it appeared to be under control. The current symptoms of the problem are almost exactly like Tracheal mites. Tracheal mites thrive when bees are confined such as winter and when bees are transported. Almost all the reports are from commercial operations where both conditions can be found.
All the losses in my State (which is no longer Fla) were from mites, but that did not stop one large operation from saying it was colony collapse, even though his bees had a high mite load before the collapse. Made the papers so more hype.
The cell phone trial was bogus since it was clear the testers did not have any knowledge of bees and how they forage.
All the usual suspects are attaching their cause to the “crisis” including anti-GMO, anti-pesticide, anti-cell phone, anti-industrialization, global warming, and people trying to make a buck out or hysteria.
The problem has been with us before and is with us now and the world did not come to an end.
