Richard Essex/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis - There's something strange going on with beehives these days. It seems that bees are leaving the beehive and not coming back. The problem with the bees is that they pollinate more than one third of everything that we eat. 

The bees are dying off at an alarming rate. David Shenefield is a bee keeper and pretty much an expert on bees.

"There's a shortage here, because the wild bees are all gone. Those parasites killed them off, you know, in the 1980s," he said.

With the wild bees almost gone and the farm-raised bees in trouble, our food source could also be in trouble, according to Shenefield.

"Over half the bees in Indiana are dead, and over half the bees in the United States are dead. You know, a lot of beekeepers (are) going out of business. And if we don't get this problem figured out, I'd say we're near crisis."

In 27 states, bees, both commercially raised and wild, are simply vanishing. Beekeepers are calling this colony collapse disorder.

A major concern of beekeepers: there aren't enough bees to pollinate flowers, which could mean a shortage of honey. But the biggest concern is a third of everything we eat is pollinated by bees.

The problem starts once the bees emerge from the hive and take their first orientation flight, Shenefield says with the help of the sun's position and natural instinct they're able to fly three miles away and make it home. Now something is interfering with their ability to come home.

Scientists are focusing on cell phone radiation, genetic-engineered grain and a host of other potential causes.

That very much concerns Shenefield. "You know, (when) it comes to a point in time when you can't keep your bees alive, we've got a problem."

With a shortage of bees nationally, Dave's bees are traveling more. Business is good for him right now, but he knows that could change without warning.