This is what I keep asking.  How many beekeepers leave their bees in Almonds after the bloom?  If there were left there would the result mirror those kept in corn heavy forage areas?
Chris:  "Could the lack of availability of propolis or the lack of variety in the diet be relevant factors?"

We have LOTs of corn around us, in terms of crop types, but we have more wooded acreage (parks and private), river/flood plain, and suburban.  I see bees in soybean if their is good moisture in the soil during bloom.  We have plenty of "wild" bee populations that I have personally documented and the problems my hives deal with are mites, cold, and skunks...I am loathing skunks right now.  We have exploded with skunks.  Moving all my static yards off pallets and onto benches.

We are also starting to see more crop rotation in our area (wheat and rye being used as both a secondary cash crop and a cover crop).  I know more farmers are also growing less GMO and doing a Conventional Hybrid with 2-4-D, partly because they rotate it with a Round-Up Ready bean, partly because they can get a premium right now for non-GMO, and partly because the seed is cheap.  We did a composting class and the concentrations of 2-4-D in compost compared to glyphosate is pretty ugly.  Corn is actually decreasing in some areas in terms of GMO, but I think its all still pre-treated to avoid weevil damage in storage and post planting worms (we do not see any cost benefit so we do not get it with either).

We also have bee in Cincinnati which are part of more of a public relations scheme than anything having to do with heavy honey production.  They produce honey BUT we simply cannot do the density of yards we can on our farm and in the surrounding rural region.  These hives do very well and with zero scientific evidence I often feel it is a result of being on their own or in wide spaced groups of two and three (decreasing vectors) and ZERO toiled ground with a HUGE amount of arboreal forage sources early on in the season and a fairly drought resistant area (urban plots vs. tilled fields).  So are just my thoughts on the issue.  We happen to be dealing with Emerald Ash Borer and people are treating their ash trees with fairly heavy doses of neonics so I would wager that pesticide exposure MIGHT be similar.

So I keep asking the question: is poor performance in corn a result of a mono-culture (poor forage sources,dynamic, multi-floral source) or exposure to "bad things" (or both).

Just some thoughts on that matter.

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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