I must apologize a bit to Chris,   I failed to admit my personal Bias  when I commented on the presenter mentioned.  It seem at least one person felt I should be censored for my views.  Thankfully that doesn't seem to happen here much.


Let me explain my bias.  I was raised farming, and live in the middle of the heaviest uses of AG chemicals.  I am also a beekeeper, and enjoy my bugs.  Towards that strange mix, life has changed drastically in the last 15 years.  For the better.

Sometime back in the 70's or 80's  some guys sitting around a table had the hair brained idea.  "hey wouldn't it be cool of we could put pesticide in the plant so only bugs that eat our crops are affected?"   I am sure they nodded and laughed.   And then they went back to the barn and mixed up some very bad stuff and went back to spraying.

Someone was listening.  And developed the idea,  and tested it, and tested it and tested it.  And came up with it A cheap easy to produce  systemic poison that degrades very quickly, and only effects insects,  specifically insects that feed on the that plant.   It should be a farmer and environmentalist Dream come true!
At the same time BT corn was developed with takes it one step further  but that’s another topic.

Now For a quick overview of the options.  20 years ago,  every farmer sprayed.  At least 2 times a season.  Most 3-4.  You sprayed in furrow as you planted.(of course there was drift to the Hensbit and Dandylions  and others.  That left a small pocket of protection for the developing seedling.  As soon as that seedling outgrew the pocket, it was vulnerable again.  So here comes the post emergence spray.  Usually a organophosphate.   Then you sit back and hope.   Watching close.
With corn,  if it even hinted again you would have a problem you sprayed before it got too tall to drive thru with the tractors.  Beans a bit more lenient as you can drive them over and they pop up.  Keep in mind these sprays are done on 40' booms  or arial  so basically everything gets covered.  Ditches, fencerows, all the trees on the edge of the fields.  So in most areas nothing is safe for a bug. Regardless of type, or what it feeds on.  
Like it or not every applicator relied on the concept that more is better,  so liberal spraying was the norm.

During this time,  beekeeping here in crop ground was terrible.  50% loss were normal.  And you do not park a hive within 200 feet of a field.  I kept sheets in the truck for the OH CRAP.  I ran a few hives but it was tough.

We now have an  insecticide that’s targeted.  Its applied at the seed plant, in a very controlled manner.  Smaller amounts are used (millions of tons of chemicals are no longer in use)  and not farmer applied. Butterflies, bees and other pretty bugs generally don't eat corn plants or beans,  not do the feed on the canola plants.  Their exposures to pesticides has dropped by a margin I can not even fathom to calculate.

I confess  over the last 15 years,  I have gotten lazy.  I keep hives literally 10 feet from the corn and bean fields.  I now have around 30 yards within 50 feet of row crops.  I no longer worry about spraying.  And I can't recall the last hive I lost from it.  ( I have had problems in a queen yard close to a golf course and scrap yards from herbicides)

Now a quick note for history.  Organophosphates and Atrizines have been found in huge amounts in the soils and waters. Being blamed for algae blooms in the gulf, and decline in frogs respectively. ( Atrizine is replaced by Roundup)   So here we have two know issues that Science has found ways to help.

What drives me nuts at night, is the lack of understanding of what is going on out here, by the individuals and groups who want to ban things.  Our recent Science skills are letting us apply test and criteria to Neonics and roundup,  that were never applied to the older chemicals.  We are as beekeepers asking for a level of protection from government,  that NEVER existed before.  We seem to be blind to what appears to be one of the greatest leaps forward in decades for our AG and our bees.

I get frustrated and in fact angry at people who don't understand what is really going on and at stake.  It drives me nuts that no one even ask, In fact in the only one who has asked me lately what the options are is Randy,  and I probably did a very bad job of explain them to him.  The options are dire.  No doubt about it.  

Again, I get frustrated when some of the brightest minds out there are asking the wrong,  and what I consider to be crazy questions.  I expect newbies and laymen to not understand.  I always expect better of researchers and Science people.  I guess when I realize that only 1% are actual farmers,  I should accept that most have no clue as to what is really going on.  Still frost me that they don't ask.

What has been fun for me is in the last year or so, I do see the tide changing.  I see more and more supporters in the bee community people who are looking at the big picture. So overall I see hope.  That’s a perk,  as IMO if we head down this path of banning a good pesticide, we will see two repercussions,  a huge decline in pollinators,  and being no longer welcome on a lot of farms we now use.



Thanks for reading, and patience with my sometimes poorly worded responses. Typewritten response leave little room for mistakes or follow up.

Charles

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