Several years ago, people both in the US and in Europe and in other places in the world noticed that honeybee colonies were not doing that well. Bees were dying and disappearing and it was affecting the people who keep bees for businesses and it started to threaten the pollination of crops which we all depend on for our fruits and vegetables. This phenomenon was described as colony-collapse disorder, or CCD. Because of increased demand and decreased supply, the cost of honeybee hives rose dramatically. In PA growers were used to paying thirty-five dollars per colony and that price has now gone up to over one hundred dollars per colony. And there are many, many research projects going on around the world trying to discover the cause of CCD.
