Environmental Economics

It was another rough winter for Barry Conrad’s bees. For the second year in a row, he had to
replace nearly 50 of his 75 colonies — about 2.5 million bees.

Conrad, owner of Canal Winchester-based Conrad Hive and Honey, has been in the business for 30
years. Keeping his bees healthy is getting more difficult every year, he said. “We’re definitely
losing more all the time.”

This could have a severe impact on an agriculture industry that, nationwide, relies on honeybees
to pollinate $14 billion in crops every year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It’s
estimated that bees play a role in the production of one-third of our food.

via www.dispatch.com

Bees and orchards are a classic example in principles of econ classes of a positive production externality (part of the benefits of beekeeping accrue to fruit farmers and vice-versa). So there are benefits to joint production–or at least co-location–of orchards and honey.