Study: Decline In Wild Bee Population Threatens U.S. Crops

DETROIT (WWJ) - A decline in wild bees is threatening U.S. crop production.

According to the first national study to map wild bees in the nation, this could affect farmers' fruit, vegetable, and nut production which relies on the pollinators.

Michigan State University Entomology Professor Rufus Isaacs is the co-author and leader of the Integrated Crop Pollination Project, which supports the new research. He says a lot of growers are renting honey bees for pollination.

"Some of those are very good pollinators for our major fruits and vegetables and some of our nut crops, so when the number of wild bees decline and there has been some evidence that certain key pollinators species have been in decline - people get concerned about what that means for long-term future of fruit, vegetable and nut production," said Isaacs.

He says about 400 species of wild bees live in Michigan, and 4,000 acres across the nation.

"The quality in the land in areas where a lot of those crops are grown has gone down for wild bees," he says. "That just makes growers more dependent on honey bees and bee keepers have done a good job of supplying that market but you wonder where the tipping point is -- as there is more and more loss of wild bee habitat at what point do the honey bee keepers have trouble keeping up with that?"

Each year more than $3 billion of the U.S. agricultural economy depends on the pollination services of native pollinators like wild bees.