a randy oliver comment follow by my question and comment...

The landscape and flora haven't changed noticeably.  I control varroa.  So
am I imagining it, or are the bees simply not as robust and productive?
The reduction of protein and zinc in pollen is a biologically-plausible
hypothesis to explain my observation.

> What kind of time interval are you talking about here Randy?  Is it short (2 or 3 years) or fairly long term(20+ years) trend?

>I will add here a long time ago during a prior commercial venture into bees I worked with a old guy by the name of George (cannot recall his last name) who ventured out California way working for one of those recognizable operations that centered around Jamestown, ND. They hauled bees out to California and the almonds back (I think???) as early as the 1970s.  George was not a highly educated person but he did know a lot about bees from a life time of experience and one of the comments he made to me was the beneficial aspects of wild mustard which grew in the almond orchards.  George also instilled in me the value of untilled and uncut margins around fields and down 'section road' that are common up thru the plains states.... George may have not been highly educated and I am sure advance calculus was way beyond his pay grade but he was still quite capable of recognizing the growth spurt produced by a fairly insignificant plant and that all those margins when considered as a cumulative total was not insignificant in producing a nectar and pollen source on a constant bases to honeybees.

Gene in Central Texas.....

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