Ratherdashings girlfriend here. [I haven't my own account) but I like reading the forums on Calgary puck a lot
]
I did my PhD in Europe on bees. People on this thread have been making really good points (i.e. decline not just due to chemicals, climate change, homogenisation of the agricultural landscape are also playing a huge part).
Dr. Ralph Cartar in the University of Calgary wrote a nice synopsis on this
http://emeritus.ucalgary.ca/Cartarbees
Re humans doing the pollinating: a lot of tomatoes and strawberries are pollinated by hand now. Search in youtube and you will see videos.
Re bees been grown in factories: This can be done and is being done now a lot in Europe, just like battery hens, a lot of the tomato and strawberry companies in Europe are using them now as the number of wild pollinators have gotten so low.
