Assistant Governor Barry Thompson told us about the role of bees in pollination. Bees are one of the five pollinators: bats, birds, beetles, butterflies and bees. Bees came with the first colonists to provide honey as sweetener. Over the years they pollinated an increasingly large number of crops to the point of being instrumental to our food supply.  One hive will pollinate crops in a 3 miles radius. Maryland has about 1800 beekeepers and 6000 colonies. The California almond is the largest annual managed pollination event in the world.  There are close to one million hives (nearly half of all beehives in the USA) being trucked to the almond groves in February.  Given the critical role of bees, Colony Collapse Disorder is of great concern since it could endanger our food supply. Although the cause is unknown, it is actively researched. Diesel fuel, mites, small hive beetles and others are being studied.