Monsanto continues to push Roundup Ready alfalfa down our throats. See:

 http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/Pages/roundup-ready-alfalfa-supreme-court.aspx

And,

http://www.producer.com/2013/02/roundup-ready-alfalfa-moves-closer-to-fields/

They are hoping to release it this spring in eastern Canada (for some reason Monsanto thinks there is an invisible wall between eastern Canada and western Canada) but encourage farmers to, “…cut their Roundup Ready alfalfa hay crop before it reaches the budding stage of development to prevent cross-pollination.”  

That sounds bad for bees - no blossoms for bees to work if it doesn’t even reach the bud stage. But I guess that doesn’t concern Monsanto. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be giving farmers a tool to kill all those bee supporting dandelions in the alfalfa fields.

Meanwhile, Bayer and Syngenta, who produce the insect killing neonicotinoids, are blaming farmers for the honeybees’ decline. They say farmers aren’t letting enough flowers blossom. The number one key feature of their new action plan to save pollinators is to:  

“Significantly scale up the creation of pollen rich, flowering field margins across the EU to provide essential habitat and nutrition for bees.” See:

http://www.syngenta.com/global/corporate/en/news-center/news-releases/Pages/130328.aspx

People on this list have pointed out all employees of these big companies love their kids and kittens and everything nice. But one company wants to eliminate blooming plants while the other is sounding like Johnny Appleseed. These two goals seem diametrically opposed. So who am I supposed to be cheering for? Who has humanibee’s interest at heart here, Monsanto or Bayer? 

Has anyone had their bees on blooming Round Up Ready alfalfa yet?  That is, does anyone know if this new product has changed the nectar quality/quantity the alfalfa plant produces? I only ask on the off chance that one of my local ranchers gets depressed by two weeks of rain and doesn’t cut his hay on time. 

Ted

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