"The clearest data is from beekeepers in agricultural areas. Virtually every long-time beekeeper that I've spoken to across the country tells me that pesticide issues these days have improved greatly over how it used to be."


There are also many long-time beekeepers around the country that don't think things are better, so perhaps the problem lies in the fact that nobody really knows what is actually going on in the soil and water in all affected areas...all we have are estimates, and even those aren't easily available, as Dick said "we have no right to know".

Some think the situation is better for their bees, while others see little or no improvement.  The localities are often very different from a biological point of view.


If monitoring actual environmental levels of residuals is implemented then perhaps we will have a better understanding, and will be able to refine application rates according to each circumstance.

I hope the idea of sentinel apiaries and pollinator monitoring gets some traction and is implemented.


Christina

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