I am terrified of swarms of bees, but also of no more bees. A Providence Whole Foods recently showed customers what the produce section would look like if there were no more bees to pollinate food producing trees and plants. I actually would have thought the impact would be greater, but 52% of the products is still a big deal.

One of every three bites of food comes from plants pollinated by honeybees and other pollinators. Yet, major declines in bee populations threaten the availability of many fresh ingredients consumers rely on for their dinner tables.

To raise awareness of just how crucial pollinators are to our food system, the University Heights Whole Foods Market store temporarily removed all produce that comes from plants dependent on pollinators. They pulled from shelves 237 of 453 products – 52 percent of the department’s normal product mix.