The scarcity of bee colonies is beginning to worry many in the agriculture world.
Bees are succumbing to the pesticide known as neonicotinoid.
However, the disappearing number of bees still remains to be largely a mystery.
"40 percent to 50 percent of hives needed to pollinate many of the nation's fruits and vegetables," have died off according to The New York Times.
One such term to describe the epidemic is "colony collapse disorder," according to the article, which first surfaced in 2005.
One company, "Big Sky Honey" was especially surprised by the recent honeybee deaths.
"They looked so healthy last spring," said Bill Dahle, owner of Big Sky Honey in Fairview, Montana. "We were so proud of them. Then, about the first of September, they started to fall on their face, to die like crazy. We've been doing this 30 years, and we've never experienced this kind of loss before."
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent chemical experts and its' assistant administrator to San Joaqin Valley of California, home to 1.6 million hives of bees, to further discuss the recent problems.
The amount of worry may escalate further as many industries, such as the $3.4 billion a year almond industry, will face a decline in their pollinators and prices for their products will soar.
"The Agriculture Department says a quarter of the American diet, from apples to cherries to watermelons to onions, depends on pollination by honeybees," The Times said. "Fewer bees means smaller harvests and higher food prices."
According to the Times, the price for renting hives has gone up 20 percent to $200.
Scientists are also pointing to the ongoing drought conditions and the chemical oxytetracycline, which may have weakened the bees' immune systems.
