>in my opinion corn is harder on bees today than ever before and I am not
simply talking about planter dust.

One would certainly expect so!  With the advent of Roundup-Ready corn and
the practices of "clean farming" and fencerow to fencerow planting, growers
have eliminated virtually all bee forage from a large percentage of
Midwestern acreage.  That fact alone would be expected to severely impact
honey bees.

This forces all pollinators to forage on the roadsides that Paul
photographed.  Since that roadside vegetation was well-populated by
pollinators, that observation suggests that problems with honey bee colony
health are less due to pesticides than to lack of forage.

The above is not intended to dismiss pesticides as an issue, but simply to
put their contribution into perspective.

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

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