[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])   writes:

Jeremy,  the answer appears to be clear in Iowa gamebird management doc that
I  posted--the shift from wheat and pasture to RR corn and soy eliminated
the  food for the birds.
 
I agree, having spent two years in Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska.   Alcohol 
fuels program drove up field corn prices, and almost everything is corn,  
with only occasional soybean fields in Illinois.  The problem is that  its a 
green desert - eliminating food and habitat for pollinators and  birds. 
 
As an old farmer, it bothered me to see all of the barns falling down - no  
livestock in most of the area, so no use of barns, and they're just letting 
the  roofs go bad and the whole thing comes tumbling down.  I'd have 
thought  that the barns were icons that also could serve as usable dry storage - 
but no  one's spending any money on them.
 
Let's be clear - the problem is a monoculture that provides little for most 
 birds and more or less nothing for pollinators.  What corn pollen is  
collected is nutritionally substandard for bees.
 
Jerry

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