Just read this in the Lancaster Farming newspaper. http://lfg.live.mediaspanonline.com/assets/6333553/A20LFWE-050711_1.pdf (http://lfg.live.mediaspanonline.com/assets/6333553/A20LFWE-050711_1.pdf)
I guess they can look for alternatives and there are other good pollinators...., but, I wonder how many tubes of mason or blue orchard bees it will take to pollenate the Almonds when the honey bees are gone, and who will produce them? In the article ...."Farmers say they have scores of bees fly out, land on their plants and drop to the ground, dead - or they can't even fly." I would say we have a real problem if that is the case.....and I guess native pollinators will be immune to this happening??.....or could the alternative be unemployed people with Q-Tips?
I think the best approach is the teach the farmer's not to use insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides while the pollinators are still in the fields. The line about farmer's reporting bees flying out of the hive and dropping dead is just that.