"Beekeepers! Buzz off!" say Tangerine growers

Mega-grower Paramount Citrus has already sent letters to beekeepers near the company's Kern County clementine groves threatening legal action and promising to seek "compensation for any and all damages caused to its crops, as well as punitive damages" if seeds develop. Company officials did not return phone calls seeking comment.

NVDL: The problem is obvious - an unreasonable consumer demand. Given that bee colonies are declining, legislation ought to be imposed that favor the bee keepers [ie favor nature/environment]. Consumers need to be advised to change those indulgences that are harmful to the environment, some changes could be enforced by law or taxed.

clipped from news.yahoo.com The fight comes amid a worldwide consumer taste shift toward seedless grapes, watermelons and tangerines — at the same time the nation's struggling bee colonies look for winter food. Tangerines and other normally seedless mandarins do not need bees to move pollen from the male to female parts of the flower in the process known as pollination. But if bees cross-pollinate the crop with the pollen of other fruit, mandarins develop undesireable seeds. "We've coexisted with them, but we don't need them," said Joel Nelson, executive director of California Citrus Mutual, a trade association. "Now we're trying to adapt to changing consumer demands, and we're hamstrung."