“Having said that, what if it was discovered that aliens had stolen all the farming equipment so farmers could no longer produce food?”

having said that, I return your question this way:

What if “aliens” came, pollinated those non-natural crops we depend on for our nutrition, and, through our own bloody-minded stupidity, we anihilated the pollinating aliens who’d been doing so much of (though, yes, not all of ) the crop pollination?

Humans needn’t wait for outlandish possibilities for worldwide catastrophe. Making that is our species’ specialty.

That honey bees are also canaries (of the environment) is also true.

I’m glad that it’s merely the potential loss of commercial crops. I was afraid it might have concerned something quite serious such as eco-system viability, for example.

Don’t worry. We don’t need natural crops. Synthetic nutrition will do, and one doesn’t need bees for that–does one? I think “science” will come to our rescue and everything will be “fine”. How do I know this? Easy, I have read the “Respectful Insolence” blog recently and, there, clearly, the readers see nothing to be concerned about.

Nature got along for many millions of years without bees. Without humans, too, come to think of it.

As Franklin P. Adams quipped, “Christmas is over and business is business” –to which I add, and this is America, after all, ergo, it’s all about the bottom-line of the income-statement.

Bees, shmees.

My vagueness in that statement was very intentional!