So my question to the more agriculture knowledgeable HN'ers: how hard would it be to do self-pollination at scale? I imagine the answer is "impossible." Is that too pessimistic?
Very labor intensive.
Hehe no, no, I was joking. I clearly don't think that armies of flying nanobots are actually a potential solution to this problem.
:-P
I was thinking the other day about the viability of a small business that would install apiaries in peoples back yards, and the hosts would get a share of the honey. The rest would be sold at at markets. A distributed system of bzzzzz. Eh? An article in the nytimes the other day inspired the idea - about how different communities are dropping prohibitions on urban beekeeping. Of course, this article appeared only a few days after another article about bees drinking maraschino cherry juice in Red Hook and producing red metallic-tasting honey.
Bees are quite happy to fly miles to get their nectar. Most of the bees from our hive visibly flew straight up and away from our area. Since getting rid of the hive, our garden is still full of bees.
I don't know about San Francisco, but there are quite a few urban hives in the East Bay. While there are CCD problems in the area with some beekeepers, there still are many bees in the area. I buy commercial honey from Bee Healthy, who keep hives around Oakland.
Thanks for the tip: I will threaten my bees with a toothbrush when they are lazy next year.