Increasing Number Of Honeybee Deaths Means Food Prices Will Rise

Honeybees across the country are dying, some from mites, others from exposure to pesticides and still other for mysterious reasons that no one understands. But one thing that economists understand is the effect it will have on the budgets of Americans as food prices rise in grocery stores. The reason food prices will increase is because bees pollinate much of the food people eat, without pollination the food crops won't grow.

Which means that even worse than causing food prices to rise, the lack of bees could compromise the nation's food security.

We can thank honeybees for "one out of every three bites of food we eat," says Greg Hunt, assistant professor of entomology at Purdue University, according to Indystar.com news.

The problem is so serious that the U.S. House Agriculture subcommittee is looking into finding ways to identify what is killing the honeybees.

According to MarketWatch reports, Agriculture Chairman Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., said he wanted to "identify exactly where limited research dollars will be most helpful in advancing our goal of preventing the further decline on the honey bee population."

Bees pollinate 300 different nectar-producing plants and trees. For trees, think of all nuts and fruits including almonds, pecans, walnuts, apples, avocados, cherries, peaches, pears, plums, oranges and grapefruit. Bees pollinate all vine crops including cucumbers, eggplant, zucchini, melons, tomatoes, potatoes and peanuts and many other vegetables including carrots, celery, corn green beans and peas.

Along with fruit, nuts, vegetables and legumes, bees also pollinate grasses, think alfalfa, which is what cattle eat that results in meat and dairy for the table including such things as hamburgers, steak and roasts as well as milk, cheese, yogurt, cream cheese and ice cream.

A mysterious new disease that is causing colonies of bees to disappear has already affected almond farmers who rent bee colonies to pollinate their crop. A few years ago almond growers paid $30 to rent a hive, now the price ranges from $100 to $140, American News reported Monday.

Those increases in costs are passed on to consumers.