Environmental changes will make it increasingly more challenging for small-scale agriculture
The supply of healthy colonies is volatile, as parasitic mites and the rigors of commercially managed migratory beekeeping continue to cause catastrophic die-offs. Pesticide resistance and industry-based bee breeding programs contribute to these losses.

The winter of 2006/07 witnessed another major die-off, and while many of the deaths are due to parasitic mites, and the secondary effects caused by the varroa mite, a large number of colonies exhibited symptoms inconsistent with mites or any known disorder. It is estimated that 24 billion bees have disappeared since spring 2006.

Edward O. Wilson on Colony Collapse Disorder
"It's a bad thing when any species is at risk," Wilson said of [colony collapse disorder]. 
"But in a sense it's the Katrina of entomology." It has brought a public awareness to
the plight of pollinators, which Wilson calls "the heart of the biosphere."
The Washington Post, June 30, 2007

The United States and other countries are facing a pollination crisis

• Most of the pollination for more than 90 commercial crops grown throughout the
  United States is provided by the honey bee
  
  
• An estimated $14 billion worth of agricultural commodities depend directly on
  or benefit indirectly from honey bee pollination.
  
  
• About 2 million colonies are rented by growers each year to service over 50 crops.
  

Pollination is critical to:

• Successful orchard yields
  
• Food-crop production
• Urban gardening
• Protection of endangered species
• Ecological restoration
• Forage production for the dairy and beef industries
  

“Along with recent stresses on the bees themselves, as well as on an industry increasingly under consolidation, some fear this disorder may force a breaking point for even large beekeepers.”
New York Times, February 23, 2007

“Once the domain of hobbyists with a handful of backyard hives, beekeeping has become increasingly commercial and consolidated. Over the last two decades, the number of beehives, now estimated by the Agriculture Department to be 2.4 million, has dropped by a quarter and the number of beekeepers by half ” New York Times, February 23, 2007