Beanz Meanz Bees

The recent article in the Sunday Times on declining bumblebee numbers raised a lot of interest from US Bee researchers, (on the BOMBUS-L mailing list) not because they disagreed with it, but because of a mention of famers in Britain growing beans. Any decline in bees may cause a decline in bean production as there would not be enough pollinators to ensure a good crop. In the US the main bean crop is soya and self-pollinating, so not subject to this concern. What are the beans grown in Britain and what do we do with them?
Image from Flickr by QuintanaRoo.
Adding pasta (Orecchiette would be well suited) to this dish of fava beans, lemon and mint would make a tasty dish go further.
We grew beans in the garden last year. The crop was small, but that had more to do with their attraction to slugs and snails than the lack of pollinators. We did try growing them alongside sweet peas in the hope that the peas would attact the attention of the bees.