"That's changed,  with the new seed coatings,  spray is rare.  What used to be constant ariel bombardment is gone. The margins of the fields are safe feed zones.  It has been about 8 years since I lost a hive to pesticides.  We are now running almost 1200 hives here.   That was not possible  a bit over a decade ago."


That's really the point about "does it matter".  Compared to "worse", this is "better".

I grew up in the beeyards back in the 1960's.  Compared to then, this is definitely "worse".  But there are lots of things that have changed....more pathogens, more chemicals, more competition (crazy numbers of migratory bees in Jefferson County now, too many for a good honey crop), generally less forage, etc. etc.

Margins of fields are disappearing, by the way. You have to hope that your area doesn't see an increase in the high-efficiency crop machinery that is able to plant crops right up to the asphalt.

You have some queens on their third seasons.  What percentage of your queens live that long? (And a separate question:  Why are you keeping them that long when so many beekeeping gurus are telling us to re-queen every year?)  I'm pretty sure your percentage of 3 yr queens is lower than it would have been "back in the day".


Still, if we could eliminate Varroa as a problem maybe bees could do better, even in the presence of pesticides and fungicides.


Christina

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