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Mark Thorson

wrote:
>
> I'm most certainly not a bee expert, but here's what I know: The bees
> that we think are wild are actually imports from Europe several
> hundred years ago. They've displaced the native bee populations for
> the most part. I live near the largest almond and stone fruit growing
> region in the world, and they bring in thousands and thousands of
> hives every year for pollination. You're right, that's where the
> money is. They get paid to put their hives there, and then they get
> the bonus of keeping the honey.

Correct.

> I'm not in ag, but it's funny that I hear about all sorts of work on
> hybrid plants. But the harvest is dependent on the bees, and I don't
> hear anything about cross-breeding bees to make better pollinators or
> more resistant varieties. It seems U.C. Davis or somewhere should be
> working on that.

I don't think any native bees can be hybridized with
honeybees. There was an effort to improve honeybee
strains with hybridizing, and that's how African bees
came to the Americas. It was a reasonable idea -- the
African bee has a honey sac about double the size of
Italian and European honeybees, and consequently higher
production. But the experiments should have been done
in Africa, not America.