Aaron Bergman wrote:-
> "Peter, would you please comment on the perceived impact of neonics in 
> Australia? We all know that Australia does not yet have varroa, and I 
> have heard that neonics are widely used in Australia but do not seem 
> to be a problem for the bees. Is this accurate?"

One reason that we do not have much of a problem, at least on the 
eastern side, is that we have little exposure to agricultural land.  If 
one places bees on agricultural (as opposed to grazing) land at all, it 
is normally for only a month or six weeks of the year.  The rest of the 
time we would be on forested sites or grazing land, usually chasing  
timber.  This is not to say there have been no kills.  For instance 
where I live, the last thirty years has seen the country we have used 
for spring build up for a hundred years, move from dairying to macadamia 
growing.  Until the growers learned the benefit of bees there were some 
horrific insecticide kills.  There have also been a few when bees were 
placed too close to cotton, and copped some aerial drift.  Like much of 
the world some beekeepers now work canola, and of course almonds.  So 
far this does not seem to have been a problem, again probably because it 
is for only such a short time.

Many beekeepers may never, or seldom, use agricultural land.

Geoff Manning

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