Then the bees and other pollinators can enjoy the rest of the spring
and summer season in an insecticide free corn, soy and canola
landscape unless something flares up like a soybean aphid infestation.

I'm with Paul on this one. We are not going to be living in a world without pesticides, petrochemicals, electromagnetic radiation and all the rest of it. The plan is to try to make things safer, of course. Systemic insecticide is a brilliant approach, certainly compared to the old crop dusting. 

The wait and see approach advocated by IPM is laudable, but very often prevention makes far more sense. That's the principle behind vaccines, nutrition, sanitation, etc. It is far easier and cheaper to prevent epidemics than to deal with the consequences. As with anything, one can go too far in one way or the other. 

Trying to force ideals on other people is arrogant and counterproductive, but of course we have a right to make collective decisions for the good of most, if not all, people. We are soon coming to the 500th anniversary of Thomas More's book "Utopia" in which he describes the "best state", aptly named Utopia, which means at the same time "a good place" and "nowhere."

Pete

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