
'Like sending bees to war': the deadly truth behind your almond-milk obsession - pujjad
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/07/honeybees-deaths-almonds-hives-aoe
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akerl_
I’m not sure I can buy into the central premise of this article. It alludes
several times to almond pollination being a major factor in killing off bees,
but several of the causes listed (mites, African bee species, etc) are never
directly linked to the almond pollinization process.

It also seems to rely on the comparison between the number of bees dying each
year and the average death rates for other animals, and at one point even for
humans (“In any other industry, the death of a third of your workforce would
cause an international outcry – but this staggering loss is now considered the
normal cost of doing business.”). Given that the average lifespan of any honey
bee appears to be well under a year, and also the fact that bees are not human
workers, this comparison seems forced at best. If 30% of beekeepers were being
killed every year while transporting their bees, yes, I’d be very concerned.

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brudgers
Until traversing California's Central Valley, I'd have questioned premise of
the article. The concepts of "farm" I've held all my life don't apply. Even
the industrial farming of the midwest is discontinuous. Industrial hydroponics
outdoors at agricultural scale. That's why the premise is plausible: these
sound like systemic problems in a hydroponic system. YMMV

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akerl_
I guess to clarify: the farming itself seems like a fascinating bit of
industrial insanity. But the bees-dying—a-lot bit doesn’t make sense, given
that any given bee is already likely to die in the year that it is born, given
its average lifespan.

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Omnitaus
When the bees used to pollinate almond farms are dying at 5 times the rate of
bees pollinating, say, apples — there's cause for concern.

