Honeybees are dying In America, one in three hives was left lifeless at the beginning of 2008. In France, the death rate might be 60 percent. In Britain, a government minister has warned that honey bees could be extinct within a decade. A third of all we eat, and much of what we wear, relies on pollination by honeybees. So if, or when, the world loses its black-and-yellow workers, the consequences will be dire. They ask the question that will soon be on everyone’s lips: there must be a way of saving the honeybees and, with them, the world as we know it?

What is behind this catastrophe? Viruses, parasites, pesticides and climate change have all been blamed. As has modern monoculture agribusiness.In this timely book, two keen amateur apiarists investigate all the claims and counterclaims with the help of scientist and beekeepers in Europe, America and beyond.