I would love to see the full study done on bees preferring non-GM crops 
since all I can find are abstracts which leave more questions than 
answers. Especially since they talk of both B. napus and B. rapa. The 
latter piqued my curiosity.

For example, the GM Canola was probably B. napus which is self 
pollinating, (http://www.canola-council.org/gs_stage6.aspx), while the 
organic farm was more likely B. rapa which requires pollination and you 
can grow your own seed (something organic farmers like in a crop). B. 
rapa is nothing more than a cultivated weed and easily grows wild. If 
you have less pollinators for B. rapa you will have a problem, but not 
for B. napus.

B. napus sets fewer but larger seeds than B. rapa and also has a shorter 
bloom for each flower. So you have a natural reason for fewer seeds that 
has nothing to do with a pollinator. Fewer seeds does not mean less 
yield since they are larger.

It can get even more confusing if you factor in the number of male to 
female plants, diversity of plants and weedy areas nearby. Plus, 
micro-climates can have great effect on yields, especially on B. napus. 
There is an abundance of studies available on canola (mostly from 
Canada) that show a multitude of thing that can affect yields and seed set.

There is just too much lacking in what is available in the study to make 
any pronouncement other than the researchers found more bees in the 
organic field than they did on the GM field. To step further than that 
is speculation and not science.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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