Comment on We are so cooked

• stabby_cicada@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  “Only”.

  80% of crops grown in the US are pollinated by honey bees.. If you think grocery prices are bad now…

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• bluebadoo@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Personally, I care because I love honey, farm grown food, and they are a poster child for all bees. Without them, there is certainly a lot less care for native bees. While yes they are primarily important for large monocropped farms, that’s your food. Like, so much of your food. Natuu is very bee populations aren’t sufficient or interested in pollinating our food crops, so yes we should really care.

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• Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Why would the bee enthusiasts cull honey bees?

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  • griefreeze@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Because the aren’t native, would be my guess

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    • Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      That’s really interesting and I’d love to read more

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      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Honeybees compete for resources with native bees and are much more efficient foragers, and it’s hard to state the scope of impact they have had on native bee populations, but most believe it to be significant.

        They were introduced to North America in the 1600s and then again, over repeated colonizations as colonizers were frustrated that native bees didn’t produce honey. Africanized honey bees were introduced from South America around the 1990s. Which are even more aggressive in their foraging and nature then their European cousins, although produce more honey.

        Native bees are relatively docile and some variants lack the ability to sting at all.

        Here is an article, or op ed about the problem: scientificamerican.com/…/the-problem-with-honey-b…

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• ThunderclapSasquatch@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Do you like food? We use bees to grow that

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  • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    You don’t need honey bees to grow food.

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