i'm just going to POST THIS AS LOUD AS I CAN and crush all arguments-MONSANTO=root of all evil.

[mike_c]

288. I'm an insect ecologist by profession-- I know quite well what I'm talking about....

Actually, that 1/3 estimate is the one most often quoted, but the data suggest that human dependence on bee pollinated crops is even lower than 30% of food production. Here's a brief paper from a University of Georgia bee researcher that appeared in the newsletter of the British Bee Keepers Association. The author, Keith Delaplane, is a professor in the Georgia Master Bee Keeper program. This particular dept of entomology, btw, is where I did my own PhD work.

Delaplane cites a recent FAO report that downgrades the importance of ALL animal pollination in agriculture EXCEPT in regards to farm profit in specific crop species, such as almonds (not to mention the economic importance-- but not necessarily food security importance-- of honeybee keeping's main by-product, honey):

http://www.ent.uga.edu/bees/OnEinsteinBeesandSurvivaloftheHumanRaceHoneyBeeProgramCAESEntomologyUGA.html

If there were awards for the most-quoted article in the pollination canon, it would have to go to S.E. McGregor for his 1976 statement that, “it appears that perhaps one-third of our total diet is dependent, directly or indirectly, upon insect-pollinated plants.” This is the proof text behind the popular paraphrase, “honey bees are responsible for every third bite of food we eat.” I suspect that even in 1976 this estimate was generous and applicable only to the most affluent economies where hay-powered beef and dairy products, oilseeds, and fruits make up a significant fraction of the diet. What seems certain is that this estimate is not global. A recent analysis[ii] of yearly crop data maintained by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) from 1961 to 2006 reached some divergent conclusions and shed light on the interacting complexity of the question “How important is animal-vectored pollination?”

The authors of the FAO analysis concluded that the proportion of global food production attributable to animal pollination ranges from 5% in industrialized nations to 8% in the developing world. These numbers are in stark contrast with McGregor and can be explained by the fact that his and other earlier estimates tended to minimize the degree to which crops vary in their dependence on animal pollinators. About 75% of the world’s crops benefit to some degree from animal pollination; only 10% of that 75% depend fully on animal pollination. A second explanation is that pollinator-dependent crops tend to have lower average production levels than non-pollinated crops. One can summarize from this paper that most of the calories that sustain human life derive from non-pollinator-dependent crops. This in no way denigrates the importance of pollination at the local level. One need only imagine the economic fallout of a pollinator crash on the California almond industry or Costa Rican coffee. But is it true, sensu stricto, that human life depends on bee pollination? No.

more@link

Although important, especially locally, honey bee pollination accounts for only a subset of all animal pollination. And that appears to be a subset of 5%-8% of annual global food production.

on edit-- I deleted one of the internal citations because it interfered with DU's text formatting. You can see the citations in full at the original link.