Dive Summary:

• Honey bees are currently dying at an alarming rate, leading experts like beekeeper James Doan to warn that the bee's possible extinction would spark a food supply crisis in the U.S.
• According to Doan, "a third of all our food is pollinated by honey bees" including most of our fruits and vegetables.
• Before 2006, bees were dying at an annual 5% to 10% clip; after 2006, the death rate rose to over three times what it was previously, leading experts to call it the "colony collapse disorder."
• Some beekeepers and researchers blame the chemicals now present in U.S. crops; Doan asserts that a type of pesticides called neonicotinoids "block the nerve endings of the bee and so the bee is paralyzed and then what happens is they starve to death, so you see the bee shaking, and it's a very horrific way of dying for a bee."

From the article:

"... But something is killing the bees at an increasingly alarming rate. Doan said, 'Every day and you'll look and you'll see 100 to 200 bees dead in front of the hive. Maybe even to the point of 40 to 50,000 bees laying out in the front of the hive, which is not normal.'

U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers say early indications suggest this winter will mark the highest death rate they've ever documented, and consumers could eventually feel the effects. ..."