Steve Noble wrote:

> It seems ridiculous to consider proponents of an environment that
> is healthy for native pollinators to be the enemies of beekeepers.

I shall attempt to present a potential real life example
(based, in part, on my 24 years of career experience
selling agricultural chemicals to California farmers):

Here is a graph showing how almond yields in California
have been steadily increasing in recent decades thanks,
in part, to industrialized agricultural practices:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/beea.jpg

Here is what a typical almond orchard looks like right now
the San Joaquin Valley of California:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/almondc.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/almonda.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k75/4af/almondb.jpg
The crop is heavy thanks to favorable weather and the
pollination services of a local or migratory honey beekeeper
the grower hired in February.

As you can also see, the orchard landscape is free of most
weeds and other extraneous vegetation (which is good
for top almond yields) and is probably not a great place
for native pollinators.

Now imagine what the owner of this orchard would think
if the honey beekeeper he hired told him: "I'm thinking of
supporting the Barbara Boxer Pollination Protection Act
of 2007 which will provide tens of millions of dollars to help
government and university researchers "investigate
the sublethal effects of insecticides, herbicides, and
fungicides, native bee crop pollination and habitat
conservation, and effects of genetically modified crops."

The almond grower would likely tell the beekeeper:
"Sounds nice, but you know that can't be good for me
because you can bet the researchers will find this or that
adverse impact and propose restrictions on my orchard 
chemicals or cultural practices. And if they make me plant 
and irrigate green belts / refuges in and around my orchard 
for the sake of native pollinators it could aggravate my weed, 
rodent, insect and disease control problems, steal some space 
I need for growing the crop and add to my irrigation costs.  
Higher nut production costs and lower yields will make my 
California almonds less cost competitive with other almond 
producing countries around the world. Please tell me you 
WON'T support these big city native pollinator advocates 
as they could hurt both of us. They might even make it
necessary for growers to plant more wildland in crops to
make up for the yield shortfalls and that certainly couldn't
be good for native pollinators."

Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.

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