>bees are hardly talked about in the 5 page article nor CCD.

Thanks for your comments, Bob.  I've received a number of emails on the
article--all very appreciative, save yours.  It appears that many
beekeepers actually *are* interested in facts and deeper background
information!

In my opinion, a background article on GM (an expanded version of the
article should be up at my website by the end of the week) has very much to
do with beekeeping.

First, any number of beekeepers have blamed GM crops as being the cause of
CCD.

And clearly, the use of GM row crops has changed the face of agriculture,
both to the detriment of beekeepers due to RR technology, and to the
benefit, due to Bt technology.  From a recent study:
“Transgenic cotton has reduced the need for conventional insecticides used
against lepidopteran [pests] an average in the USA about 59.4% [and] Texas
74.7%...an average number of pesticide applications in conventional cotton
has fallen from 4.3 in 1995 to 2.1 in the USA… with benefits to human
health and the environment” Greenberg, S, et al (2012) Economic and
Environmental Impact Transgenically Modified Cotton Comparative with
Synthetic Chemicals for Insect Control. Journal of Agricultural Science and
Technology B 2 750-757.

Prior to Bt cotton, cotton was often death to bees.  It is less so these
days.  And the soy honey crop that saved many Midwestern beekeepers' asses
this year was helped by the lack of weed competition for water in RR soy.

And now we find that GE may save the orange honey crop.  Insecticide
treatments against the Asian Psyllid are making orange nectar toxic to
bees.  The solution will likely be the GM orange trees already in testing,
using genes inserted from spinach, which will hopefully face less
uninformed consumer resistance.  This could be a big win for both
beekeepers and the environment:
http://westernfarmpress.com/orchard-crops/california-citrus-growers-schooling-florida-coming-hlb-war?page=3

And if you had been able to keep your eyelids open through my entire
article, you would have noticed that GE will likely lead to crops in the
near future that will require zero or minimal insecticide use--this will
also be a big win for beekeepers.

Bob, I'm very sorry that you find my recent articles to be "boring."  I and
a number of my readers find the deep research that I put into them to be
anything but.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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