Bee pollination is responsible for more than $15 billion in increased crop value each year. About 
one mouthful in three in our diet directly or indirectly benefits from honey bee pollination. 
Commercial production of many specialty crops like almonds and other tree nuts, berries, fruits 
and vegetables are dependent on pollinated by honey bees. These are the foods that give our 
diet diversity, flavor, and nutrition.
Honey bees are not native to the New World; they came from Europe with the first settlers. 
There are native pollinators in the United States, but honey bees are more prolific and easier to 
manage on a commercial level for pollination of a wide variety of crops. Almonds, for example, 
are completely dependent on honey bees for pollination. In California, the almond industry 
requires the use of 1.4 million colonies of honey bees, approximately 60 percent of all managed 
honey bee colonies in the United States.
The total number of managed honey bee colonies has decreased from 5 million in the 1940s to 
less than 2.5 million today. At the same time, the call for hives to provide pollination services has
continued to increase. This means honey bee colonies are being transported over longer 
distances than ever before.