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?"

For a published view on the impacts of the neonics in Australia, the 
following article may be of interest.
http://theabk.com.au/article/neonicotinoids-australia
But of course, like everywhere else, there is a broad spectrum of 
experiences and opinions, ranging from no "effect...nothing to worry about" 
right up to "major impact causing severe problems...a major concern". So 
what is really going on?
The above article highlights the logistic problem of getting accurate 
information from the beekeepers to the regulators, so that they can make 
their assessments based on reliable information feeding back from the field 
use situation. In truth, that is where we need to start. If you have a good 
solution to this problem, that will change beekeepers' natural inclination 
to stay as far away from bureaucracy as possible, then please share it with 
us!
(Having said that, I must 'fess up to the fact that despite having my own 
experiences of problems which I attribute to these agrichems, I too haven't 
formally reported them to the regulatory authority!)

Juanse's simile that we are like the "meat in the sandwich" is a good 
analogy. I feel we will be devoured in the not too distant future, because 
already the problem of there being no significant next generation of 
beekeepers willing to take over from us, is being felt here. The agrichems 
issue certainly isn't helping that.

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