"England could run out of home-produced honey by Christmas." 2 billion bees, about 1/3 of the bees in England, have been killed off by the varroa mite. Beekeepers are marching in London, demanding that the government spend more money on research. A New Zealand company claims to have bred in resistance to this mite into bees. This could be worth billions of dollars. One estimate says: "the annual value of honeybee pollination to crop production is US$ 14.6 billion in the USA, US$ 1.14 billion in Canada , about US$ 3 billion in the EC, and US$ 2.3 billion in New Zealand."
In other insect news, locusts are attacking Australia. A low density swarm about six kilometres long and 170 metres wide has been reported. See video from the BBC.
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