I appreciate your comments regarding the relationship between growers and beekeepers, Doug.

In that vein, we should recognize that field-crop agricultural landscapes are not inherently poor bee habitat. In Ohio, where weed suppression is not nearly so intense as I understand it to be elsewhere in the corn belt, we saw a positive correlation between agricultural land use and honey bee productivity, especially when compared to forested landscapes (https://peerj.com/articles/838/).

Agriculture maintains open land, and open land is what supports the large scale floral patches like those formed by dandelion in the early spring, clovers in mid-spring and summer, and goldenrods/asters in late summer and fall. With the replacement of pasture and hay fields by corn and soybean, we've certainly seen a massive reduction in foraging habitat, but the roadsides and crop margins that are left unsprayed still comprise the best honey bee habitat in the state. If these areas can be conserved and, ideally, expanded, I think ag land will continue to be the most productive habitat in which to keep bees in the Midwest.

So, there is plenty of room for a positive relationship between growers and beekeepers. Moderate changes in land management practices and attitudes concerning habitat and biodiversity could make a big difference for pollinators if applied consistently throughout the vast acreage of U.S. farmland. I don't see any reason that it needs to be very costly or inconvenient; the only thing you need to do to have a field of wildflowers is to leave it alone. 

Doug

Douglas Sponsler
Graduate Research Associate
Department of Entomology
The Ohio State University
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