With bees on decline, mechanical pollination may be solution

Tractors pull a mast equipped with small cannons that shoot pollen at almond trees, allowing them to fertilise without bees in an almonds grove in Tel Arad, southern Israel. — Reuters

TEL ARAD, Israel: A mechanical hum replaced the buzzing of the bees in one Israeli community this season as farmers, concerned over the global drop in bee populations, tried out a new method of pollinating their crops.

Through an almond orchard in the area of Tel Arad in a desert plain in southern Israel, a tractor pulled a mast equipped with about a dozen small cannon that fired precise shots of pollen at the trees, enabling them to fertilise.