Farmers in the United States produce an abundance of food that is delicious, nutritious, diverse, safe and inexpensive. All of these things are more true in this country than any other country in the world, and Honey bee colonies are moved to fields and orchards on large, flat bed, air ride trucks. They are covered with a net to allow ventilation, and held securely in place with corner supports and heavy duty straps. We continue to feed more people each year while at the same time using less land to do so. Modern agriculture causes less erosion and returns more land to its natural status for use by wildlife and outdoor enthusiasts.
Honey bees are very much a part of the modern American agricultural picture.
Over two million of these colonies are on the road each year to pollinate crops and to produce honey and beeswax. This represents a major change in U.S. agriculture since the first colonies of honey bees were rented for pollination on apples in New Jersey in 1909, and since the first migratory beekeeping for the purposes of honey production began in this country in latter part of the 1800s. This paper is hereafter referred to as the 1989 paper. There was an error in that table as regards the proportion of the U.S. grape crop pollinated by honey bees that was due to an inability to report the value of various crops not reported, or not reported regularly, by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Another change over that paper is that it's now thought that pumpkins and some squash, at least in most of the northeastern states, may be pollinated primarily by solitary, ground-nesting bees, rather than honey bees.