tgoop.com/BekzodMirahmedov/2469
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#MiniTest
Matching Headings || Day 22
Part of the passage:
All that messy diversity, unfortunately, is not well suited to the monocrops and mega-yields of modern commercial farmers. Before farms got so big, says conservation biologist Claire Kremen of the University of California, Berkeley, 'we didn't have to manage pollinators. They were all around because of the diverse landscapes. Now you need to bring in an army to get pollination done.' The European honeybee was first imported to the US some 400 years ago. Now at least a hundred commercial crops rely almost entirely on managed honeybees, which beekeepers raise and rent out to tend to big farms. And although other species of bees are five to ten times more efficient, on a per-bee basis, at pollinating certain fruits, honeybees have bigger colonies, cover longer distances, and tolerate management and movement better than most insects. They're not picky – they'll spend their time on almost any crop. It's tricky to calculate what their work is truly worth; some economists put it at more than $200 billion globally a year.