.> My point being the square mile pictured would, at best, sustain about 5 colonies and only with the caveat that bee food plants are blooming in succession to sustain brood rearing throughout many months. Thanks Kathy! A good example is the state of Iowa. In the past at times Iowa ranked in the top five states for honey production. ALWAYS higher tham Missouri! The last two years crops have averaged less than 30 pounds per hive. The Stanley brothers claimed last spring in a Bee Culture "letters to the editor " they used to average 300 pound honey crops in the area now seeing poor crops. I have NEVER saw a 300 LB. AVERAGE in my 50 years of keeping bees but have had plenty of hives produce 300-400 pounds in good years. I really could care less the amount the Stanley brothers claim but only use the example to show there is a problem and like Jerry B. has said not necessarily a CCD problem. Roundup ready: The history of roundup goes back to Illinois my extension agent told me. Said farmers wanted to be able to farm hard to till ground. after roundup and no till was found to work on hard to till areas the chemical company so their chance > "Why not convert all farming to no till roundup and you know the "rest of the story" Now farmers have a huge amount of idle time to sit in restaurants, bars and go fishing and crop rotation is *almost* a practice of the past. I have fields in my area that have seen corn every year for many years, No wonder the weeds are becoming resistant to roundup. Beekeeping is getting tough in the Midwest! bob *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm