Pollination by insects, mainly bees, is worth $217 billion worldwide each year, according to a study recently published in Ecological Economics and highlighted in Business Week.  That's equivalent to 9.5% of the world's crop production. (And two-and-a-half times as much as the U.S. government's recent loan to bail out insurance giant AIG, to put it into perspective.)

Interestingly, the study noted that crops that depend on insect pollinators, like fruits, vegetables, and oilseed crops, are higher in average value than crops that don't, like cereals and sugar cane.   And the consequences of pollinator loss on consumer well-being (defined economically) could be even greater than the direct value of crops pollinated by insects.

But the finding that chilled me to the bone was the possible consequences for the crop category known as "stimulants." Because that includes coffee.

...the results indicate that for three crop categories - namely fruits, vegetables and stimulants [coffee, cocoa] - the situation would be considerably altered following the complete loss of insect pollinators because world production would no longer be enough to fulfil the needs at their current levels.

It's true...coffee needs bees too.  And, like millions of others around the globe, I need coffee to survive.

(Incidentally, the shade-grown coffee that many of us favor because it's friendlier to birds is friendlier to bees as well, attracting close to 10 species of native sweet bees and far more bees than coffee grown in the sun.)

Bottom line: insect pollinators feed us and enhance the quality of our lives.  But, in addition to colony collapse disorder, which is affecting U.S. honey bees, insect pollinators are in decline all over the world.  It's worth paying attention to their plight.