Part of this, a large part, is on the commercial beekeepers

[indusurb]

They truck their hive all around the country to whatever farm is paying for their pollination services. They then let these disoriented bees, far from home, out to go feed on an unbalanced diet, be it almond, apple, or whatever crop needs to be pollinated. Between the hardships of long distance travel and being fed one mono diet after another for weeks and months on end, it is no wonder that the bees suffer and die. Penned up, breathing exhaust fumes, not getting a balanced diet, auto immune deficiencies and diseases take their toll.

Yes, there are other major factors involved, pesticides, loss of habitat, etc. But if the commercial beekeeping industry would clean up its act, a lot of these problems would be significantly reduced. Perhaps farmers should revert to the old practice of having their own, stationary hives. More costly for them in the short term, perhaps, but muchbetter for the bees.