"So here is Charles pretty much saying the same thing? What's the story? Why
are farmers planting marginally workable land if not to plant more? If they
are planting different land now, what is being done w/ previously planted
land? Cows aren't grazing on it?"

Mark,  you live in a slightly different AG zone,  so I can't speak for your
area.  Lots of little micro zones.  But here in the Midwest I know whats
going on, and have for 40 years.  I spent the last 10 years of my career
working in crop harvesting for CNH and AGCO,  with a lot of friends at
Deere.
We listen to the drop reports daily here.  Like you guys listen to traffic.
Totly acreages and planting completions are normal EVERY DAY news. Including
Brazils numbers.

Things have changed a bit.  A lot of ground that was dairy is now row crops.
But there is also quite a bit of CRP ground to mix in there.  Keep in mind
even that Dairy ground was marginal.  When harvested at 10% bloom, wasn't a
lot there for bees either.
Grain prices are a huge factor.  7.00 corn will increase acreages by a small
percentage.  No doubt.  But a 10% change is not hurting our bees.
The fence rows that some are whining about have been gone since the 80's.
not because of the crop prices,  but because of changes in farming.  Bigger
tractors, harder to turn around.  No more cattle on the corn stubble.
Cattle and hogs are gone from most farms, so why bother having fences?
Fence rows cost money to maintain.  Why?  In the 70's  everybody farmed a
160 or so  now if your not over 500  you cannot even think of making a
living.

Yup some ground is going to get tiled and farmed...  and a lot of ground is
now somebody's yard... and some river bottoms are grown in.  it's a fairly
stable balance.
Actually no till seems to be a help.  Some of the seasonal "weeds" are
fantastic bee plants depending on your location.

http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/crops/corn/background.aspx#.Uu_23j1dWAg

This chart will show you the facts

I was looking for one that showed total planted acres all crops,  but can't
seem to locate it. Its been declining slightly for the last 15 years.

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