I promised that this time I would mention some alternatives to pollination by bees. As such, this will be a very brief post. There are only 2.
First, and you might have guessed this, mechanical drones. Yes, technicians are already at work on these mini-substitutes for Mother Nature. As usual, Mother knows best. It seems that they can make wee, tiny drones, and they have come up with a substance that make pollen stick to them. Controlling those flights, getting the drones in and out without tearing up the plants are problems. They are not really very close to figuring that out. In addition, it will take vast numbers of those tiny machines to do the job, so the cost will be enormous.
Second solution. Hand pollination. This is being done in the apple orchards in China, because the natural pollinators no longer hand out there. Pollen is gathered, by hand scraping into pots, then applied by hand, using paint brushes. The work is physically back breaking and mind numbingly tedious. Can you imagine how many people it would take to hand pollinate some of America's huge farms. On the other hand, it would solve the unemployment problem. Well, no, now that I think about it, because, those folks would have to be fed very well to stand up to that labor and if we are in a food crisis that would be a problem. In addition, you would never get Americans to do such labor. We have become a lazy bunch.
Sorry, I wish there were better alternatives, but that seems to be about it. So, next time, I'll offer some ways we might save our little friends, the bees.
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