Farmers adding plants to attract, nourish bees

DEL REY, Calif. (AP) — Dozens of farmers are starting to replace some crops with flowers and shrubs that benefit bees, hoping to lower their pollination costs and restore a bee population devastated in the past few years.

The effort comes as bees are perishing in great numbers. Bees are essential pollinators of about a third of the country's food supply and are especially important in California, the …