[Pollinator] Business Week: What Price Pollination?

[Jennifer Tsang]

Thanks to Marty Rosen for finding the below.


 


http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/09/0925_btw/3.htm


BTW The <http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/09/0925_btw/index.htm>
Business Week


What Price Pollination?

CNIMAGING

By Adam Aston


What Price Pollination?


As the decline in the bee population continues, a team of French and German
scientists has come up with an estimate for what insect pollinators, mostly
bees, add to the global economy. The amount: $248 billion in today's
dollars, based on the 2005 harvest, about 9.5% of the value of all food
production. The study, published in Ecological Economics, says fruit and
vegetables account for about a third of that total. The bee shortage has
already hurt growers and consumers worldwide. California almond growers, who
require 1.5 million bee colonies for pollination, are renting hives for $200
each, up from $35 two years ago. In China, where pesticide overuse has
killed off pollinators in some fruit orchards, farm workers have resorted to
dabbing pollen into blooms by hand. 

 

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