>. If beekeepers can get a ban on a particularly
> important pesticide that is crucial for food production,

We think better choices exist than IMD. Period! IMD is NOT "crucial for food
production".

why shouldn't
> farmers lobby for a ban on bees in agricultural areas?

What do you consider an agriculture area? Any areas using Neonicotinoids
most of us are avoiding now.

How would such
> an argument go?

Was purposed  in Europe by disgruntled growers but why penalize the 
beekeeper
for a pesticide which kills bees/butterflies and native pollinators. So IMD
was banned. The argument does not make sense.


tree hugging beekeeper to
> try and sue me for his bees dying while I am trying to FEED the USA
> over here, the only way I know how to do it, and still make it pay.

News flash for growers like the above. If our bees die and we can (through
on going research) prove your application of the neonicotinoids killed our
bees we will sue. Also I might add that the chemical company which sold you
those products will do as they have in France. Italy , Germany and other
places and say that your application of their products killed our bees
because YOU did not apply according to label. Fact!

Now you can swear on a stack of bibles you did a correct application and I
have no doubt you did but suing the huge chemical giant has produced only
minor results but suing you is a different matter.

A grower which rents bees and uses the neonicotinoids without declaring to
the beekeeper in advance runs the risk of a lawsuit and also not being able
to ever rent bees from us again.

Hobby beekeepers really have little idea what killed their hives most of the
time. Large commercial beekeepers see large bee kills. Reports are starting
to show up in the bee magazines.

consider Feb. ABJ pg.150

" Dale has had some huge bee losses this year  (2000 hives) and had to buy
hundreds of replacement bees and queens."
Further:
"Dale is keeping tabs on the August 2008 lawsuit filed by the National
Resources Defense Council (NRDC) against the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. As part of the Freedom of Information Act, the lawyers for the NRDC
are seeking agency records concerning the toxicity of certain pesticides to
bees"

" The NRDC claims the EPA has failed to disclose the results of these
studies"

The article goes on to condemn the chemical company pushing IMD.

I said on BEE-L almost two years ago Florida beekeepers were losing hives
right and left to IMD. Now you are starting to read what I have been saying
for a long time. Use systemic pesticides to crops bees work and problems
arise.


The April 2009 ABJ pg.325:

"Dave Mendes ( largest commercial beekeeper in Florida today)  does NOT put
bees in citrus because of the use of systemic pesticides"

The former "largest producer of Orange Blossom Honey in the world" does not
place bees in citrus. The commercial beekeeper which provided quite a bit of
the information on hive loss in Orange for my article. The only thing
different in the orange groves of Florida is the use of IMD.

Orange blossom honey in a few years will only be a memory. Will not be found
year around on I 75 and if found will be only a mix. Not pure as we are used
to.

I realize many on BEE-L are not in direct contact with many of these
beekeepers like I am . If you were sitting in meetings beside me for a few
of these meetings your doubts as to the serious problems the neonicotinoids
are causing would fade away.

As beekeepers we are demanding all information the EPA has on IMD be
released. The IMD buildup in the soil and in pollen & nectar of plants bees
work should be of concern to all of us.

I predict in the future taking the position that IMD is safe for bees and
pollinators will not be a popular stand. The roar will continue. Even if IMD
is pulled it will as it was in France take several years for the orange
groves to be safe for bees again.

bob

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned 
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html