(Independent) - It has not been a good quarter-century for bees. The varroa mite was their first foe, which ravaged bee populations, causing hive collapse and local extinctions. One of the bees' allies then was a chemical, Bayvarol, manufactured by the German corporation Bayer AG. Bayvarol was very effective against varroa: farmers, bee keepers and perhaps bees themselves were relieved. But by an awful irony, the same company 25 years ago began the sale and distribution of neonicotinoid pesticides, which were so successful they were soon in use the world over, and helped propel Bayer to its present dominant position as one of the leading pesticide manufacturers, currently turning over £6bn annually.

Pesticide producers argue that they do God's work, or at least Adam's, in that a world without their products would be a very hungry place for us.
"By 2050, we are going to have to feed 9.2 billion people – so in the next 50 years or so we are going to have to produce as much food as humanity has produced in our entire history," says Dr Stephen Humphreys, food industry manager for Bayer Crop Science, a UK subsidiary of Bayer AG.