20-Year Prospect

20-Year Prospect

Beekeepers will still be around twenty years from now...we hope.

See, while there are more than 100,000 people across the United States who keep bees as a hobby, all of the honey we eat and the pollinated crops we consume exist thanks to the efforts of a few hundred commercial beekeepers...and these commercial beekeepers are facing some epic, possibly industry-ending issues (source). 

First off, commercial beekeepers tend to be old, and many of them are approaching retirement age. For whatever reason, younger generations aren't particularly interested in becoming apiarists. Maybe it's the inherent fear we feel every time we hear buzzing. Who knows?

Another problem faced by this industry is Colony Collapse Disorder. Bees have been dropping like flies. No one knows whether CCD is caused by sickness, poor nutrition, environmental factors, some combination of the three, or none of the three. It's like "Clue," but with bees, and if we don't solve this particular murder mystery, the food chain will collapse.

So, here's hoping beekeepers—and their charges—will be here in the future. We'd hate to face a 22nd century without almonds.