I realize that in your area, Charlie, that bees thrive in ag land.  But that is NOT the case in other areas that I've visited or that have been studied.  I suggest that you take a look at Matt Smart's studies of lands in the Dakotas.  He works with large beekeeper Zac Browning, who can corroborate.


We have debated that paper, I have read it and studied it at length,  and found it completely lacking in common sense. (IMO)  the yards used to show decline were a terrible piece of data.  The GIS data clearly showed it was a bad place to put bees to start with.

Using that paper to claim habitat loss is a FAR FAR reach.( some with a sense of humor would say cherry picking ;)

That Data (unless I am mistaken and there is another) had to do with colony survival over several seasons

Most of the hives did just fine,  but the one most want to claim showed problems  was one yard that was horribly overloaded for the base habitat.


When questioned why the yard was picked in the first place (personal discussion)  the comment was "that’s what was available"




"""We tested the hypothesis that colonies in apiaries surrounded by more favorable land use conditions would experience improved health""""


The above was taken from the abstract,  to that point they did what they said,  they showed that hives on poor ground suffer,  That is in no way a indicator of US land use over the last 50 years. That  is simply a statement on picking the right spots to put yards, and watching your hive loading.

To many beeks are demanding places where they can drop 100 hives every other mile and make tons of honey. When alfalfa was king in any area that kind of worked.  The world has changed for that type of honey production.  Time to get over it and deal with the facts.


Charles

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