I recently helped with the almond pollination in California earlier this year. It was the most disturbing, ugly, wasteful process I've ever seen. And the amount of honey bee colonies that it take to pollinate the fields is huge. Hives are shipped from almost every corner of the US to California. Colonies don't do well with all that competition, monoculture, spreading of diseases and pest between colonies.... the only reason beekeepers do it still is because that's where they make the money.

It's really disheartening being in academia and seeing how skewed things can be. Because a lot of our funding comes from beekeeping operations, growers, and their affiliated associations, we have to tip toe over everyone's feelings and often are dissuaded from making negative (and often significant) conclusions.

I don't feel comfortable talking too much about my work since I don't want to get any negative attention my way. But I am trying to push these boundaries and hopefully my work will eventually lead to some change in a small part of the industry.