Almonds are referenced in virtually every news report about bees. The overall tone of media references to the almond industry as it relates to bee health decline is neutral, but the sheer size and reliance on pollination of the almond industry is driving interest in the subject.
Further, recent news articles in publications such as Time magazine, largely reference the Report on the National Stakeholders Conference on Honey Bee Health held in Oct. 2012. In short, that report separated the issues impacting the overall health of bees into four main categories: 1) nutrition, 2) pesticides, 3) parasites/pathogens and 4) genetics/ biology/ breeding. Read the rest of the article here.