We perform hand application of pollen by brush or duster. Commercially, vanilla and date crops are hand pollinated. Man also uses his technical knowledge to accomplish pollination, as for example mechanically shaking tomatoes in greenhouses to distribute pollen. Of the pollinating agents wind and insects are the major agents in pollination of most flowers. Virtually every major group of insects has been implicated in the pollination of some plant.
Pollination is essential for the commercial production of many fruit, vegetable and seed crops.
It is estimated that about 90 crops in the United States depend upon insects, mainly honey bees, for pollination. Apis mellifera is the most widely dependable pollinator of insect pollinated plants. The need for honey bees as pollinators is increasing, and this trend is likely to continue or even accelerate in the next few years. The demand for controlled insect pollination is being created by several modern agricultural practices. The use of insecticides, herbicides, mowing of pastures and roadsides, and the overgrazing of pasture land has contributed to the decline in populations of wild bees.