[jcromartie]

Honeybees are not native to the US. It would be odd to rely on a non-native species for our food supply.

[btilly]

Why would it be odd? When Europeans arrived they imported European agriculture and cuisine, most of which is non-native.

For instance I had pancakes for breakfast this morning. The eggs were from non-native chickens, the milk from non-native cows, the flour from non-native wheat, the canola oil I cooked it in from non-native rapeseed, and the butter I put on it from non-native cows. However all is not lost, I used maple syrup from native maple trees, and put blackberries in it that might have been native. (The baking powder and salt are chemicals that to the best of my knowledge do not come from animals or plants, native or otherwise.)

Edit: When I looked up blackberries I found out that there are several hundred species, and some of the popular ones for cultivation are not native. So I don't know whether that was a native berry.

[wdewind]

I think what he means to say is there was food here before honey bees, there can be food here after honey bees.

[stretchwithme]

aren't all species non-native unless you'e exactly at the spot where they evolved?

[qq66]

You have to realize that our food supply is a horribly unnatural beast, not reliant on anything "native" to anywhere. Native species could easily pollinate the amount of food required to support the Native American population in 1450 -- the New York City population of 2010, not so much.

[WiseWeasel]

To be clear, there were bees in North America before the European Honeybee was introduced, and they did the pollinating and still do today to a small extent, but the European variety is simply more productive and domesticated. That's not to say that native bee species still around are anymore resistant to this systemic pesticide. You're splitting hairs here.

[JanezStupar]

Not everybody here is from US :)

My ancestors managed to create arguably the best bee btw :) [http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Apis_mellifera_carnica]