Randy

What about clothianidin treated rapeseed/canola...in the US or Canada?  I ask this because bees are far more likely to deliberately visit these and thus have an even greater exposure.  It is also crop that is in common though at different level of acres in both Europe, Canada, and the US.

In the field corn tests was any correlation made between wet/dry conditions and what you have mentioned?  I have ONLY seen bees in corn when it is EXTREMELY dry.  I have not done random sampling but during non-drought seasons in June/July we never see a bee at all in the corn.  Of course our field perimeters are heavy in a variety of invasive and local weeds/wildflowers including thistle and mustard so I suppose they would be exposed to drift regardless of weather.  We do field walks to check our corn in June so while its not a scientific sampling I can honestly say that in the last four years I have been watching for bees very closely.  We do not used clothianidin treated seed so I am not asking about exposure in other fields which run similar in terms of size and field break plant populations.  Right now we are using a glyphosate resistant corn and bean with no clothianidin (this is still available to those that want it).  The same is seen in our organic OP corn plots as well...no bees (though I have not had them pollinating during a dry time so do not know if bees would be in them or not).

Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm
North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855

(513) 967-1106
http://www.carriagehousefarmllc.com
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