According to a new study published in the journal Plos One, scientists have found that in more than half of European countries there are not enough honeybees to pollinate crops. Britain in particular is experiencing an acute shortage, being found to have only 25% of the honeybees needed to pollinate the country’s crops. Researchers believe that wild pollinators such as solitary bees, bumblebees, and hoverflies are making up for the deficit. Only Moldova with an economy 300 times smaller than Britain has a more severe shortage. Between 2005-2010, across 41 countries in Europe the number of honeybee colonies has increased by 7%, however total oilseed rape, sunflower, and soybean acreage has increased by a third. This increase in cultivated area has caused a bee deficit that now equals 13.4 million colonies or approximately 7 billion bees. The numbers of wild pollinators in Europe is not monitored and researchers believe that agriculture being reliant upon them to make up for the lack of honeybees is putting the industry at risk.
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