Hi all

Honestly, to invoke native pollinators in the context of agriculture is a red herring. A farm is not a wildlife preserve. Everybody loves wildlife but there are places where it isn't welcome. Some folks would like to see lions in the mountains of Southern California, but every time one of them comes down into the suburbs and snatches a toddler, the interest seems to wane. 

Farmers that need pollinators will naturally prefer honey bees, because they can get them in and out as needed. If some conservationist tries to tell them how to farm to protect butterflies, potentially putting their crop at risk, that's going to be a tough sell. There are wildlife preserves for a variety of species, why do we think native insects should be protected in farm lands? 

The fences along the Interstate keep wildlife off the highways. This prevents some wildlife from getting killed, of course, but the main reason is that animals wandering on the highway would kill thousands of people. The insurance industry estimates that the annual cost to society for fatalities and injuries is $200 million per year. 

From the viewpoint of the farmer, you would have to make a stronger case for the protection of insects on his farm, if his chief goal is to rid his farm of insects. The case will be especially hard to make if the farmer is growing crops that don't require bees, like corn, or if he uses honey bees, which are generally moved out after the bloom has passed.

Don't misunderstand me, I love native plants and insects as much as anyone, but I don't think that my predilections should be imposed on other people, least of all farmers who raise the food I eat. I have an organic garden here at the house, we probably get less than a third of the expected yield due to birds, bugs, etc. If it weren't for the ten foot fence the deer would eat everything before it got more than 6 inches high. So I need farmers, or I don't eat. They should have a voice in this discussion.

PLB

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