Paul wrote> Randy & Bill, when the NP people talk to reporters, they make
> it sound like wild native bees could deliver a comparable degree of
> pollination if farmers supplied them with "flowering hedgerows,
> fallow land and crop diversification."
Paul, this is likely true, but not for large scale agriculture as we know
it. Small, organic farms probably. It will all depend upon the
market--whatever is most cost effective.
If all honeybees were to disappear tomorrow, farmers would be forced to
adjust, yet agriculture would surely continue--so the NP agenda is not pure
fantasy. However, honeybees are not likely to disappear, and farmers (read
that, almond growers) have demonstrated that they will pay a handy fee to
have pollinators trucked in. However, if someone could figure out a way to
get some other bee to do the job at half price, the growers would dump
beekeepers like a hot potato. I don't see that happening any time in the
future, so for now, I'm more afraid of the products that you sell, than the
threat of native pollinators to my livelihood. I don't mean that
personally--I can't imagine large scale agriculture without pesticides. But
it doesn't mean that I, or my bees, like them.
Randy Oliver
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