Use of Organic Pest Control Along with Other Methods is a Delicate Balance in Protecting the Bees.The Bees are disappearing! Some important developments associated with organic-garden-pest-control, and commercial growers, relate to the disappearance of bees and can be looked on as indicators of deeper problems with the environment. Large fruit growing regions of the world and smaller gardeners, can be and are devastated by a lack of bees. Pollination by bees is essential, as most crops depend on pollination for their survival. 
Honey bees for example, are vulnerable to many of the insecticides used by crop growers and gardeners, to control damaging pest species on fruit, vegetable, nut, and seeds.
At the same time, growers dependent on honey bees for the pollination of their crops and must constantly maintain a delicate balance between protecting their crops from pests and pathogens, and protecting the insects that are necessary to pollinate these crops. The gardener who uses organic-garden-pest-control,is providing small but effective safe havens for honey bees. At the same time reaping the benefits of bee pollination on fruit trees, and small fruits. The recent dramatic die-off of tens-of-thousands of honey bee colonies has left many beekeepers devastated and possibly many growers without the quantity and quality of bees needed to pollinate their crops. Only half the bee population in Italy is left. For example, Italy has lost nearly half its bees and, as a result, its cherry crop may die out within a few years. According to the Christian Science Monitor, "Europe-wide, an estimated $1.25 billion in agriculture has already disappeared with the bees." A possible solution says Federation of Italian Beekeepers President Raffaele Cirone might be to set-aside areas to the benefit of insects. He explains that, "grassy lands left uncultivated and unfertilized, where flowers can grow freely, to the benefit of insects who feed on them" is "part of the farming and bee-keeping tradition" that was abandoned with the advent of modern chemical-intensive agriculture.
"In the past two decades," Cirone said, "the improper use of pesticides has forced most beekeepers to leave the areas close to cultivated fields and to move to the hills. With Europe's bee populations plummeting, the European Union has called for the creation of bee "recovery zones" in each of the EU's 27 member nations. The Christian Science Monitor explains that European "compensation zones" would be "cultivated with protein-rich flowers" like white clover and wild mustard, to the benefit of bee populations. As organic-garden-pest-control methods are similarly beneficial to bees we as organic gardeners can at least do something to help create safe havens for the bees. Our large fruit trees andsmall fruit will also benefit.
Download Penn State report (PDF): Protecting Bees from Pesticides.
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