Hello Randy, Paul & All,

Both Randy & Paul make interesting points but I think a Midwest beekeeper
should respond.

First let me say the amount of fungicide sprays applied to soybeans (& corn)
corresponds with the current price of soybeans & corn.

If you Google "soybean fungicide sprays" you will find countless sites
which urge caution using fungicide sprays on soybeans *unless corn prices
are in the $7 a bushel range or soybeans in the 14-15 range.* Money is made
on chemicals and many sprays are not needed and actually cost the farmer
rather than make money. Soybean rust being the *Poster child*.

Next we come to Soybean Rust discovered in the south a few years ago.
Alabama I think. After news hit that Soybean  Rust was in the U.S.
truckloads of spray
was applied even if no rust was yet detected. Chemical companies ( Syngenta)
rushed to register  Bravo & Quadis for Soybean Rust. Worse yet many many
section 18's were given for propicoonazole, myclobutanil & tebiconazole to
fight this new menace.

The important thing to remember is if everyone is spraying then we never
really know if would have been a menace and famers need to continue spraying
as a preventive.

Next we come to the BIG PROBLEM concerning honey bees and fungicides:

In my opinion and in order to sell more chemicals many spray applicators
recommend a combination of fungicides. Combinations are never tested when
chemicals are registered.

In the Mississippi delta after soybean rust was discovered and the above
chemicals were sprayed the commercial beekeepers started seeing high bee
loss. After a couple years of high bee kills beekeepers in those areas left
the soybean (and cotton ) fields (which they had kept bees in for several
generations of beekeepers) and moved on.

So farmer greed ( highest yields possible) and chemical company greed ( sell
more products and the push to spray even if might not be needed) and the
spray outfits which spray when bees are in the field ( 8-5 jobs) are not
helping the situation.

As beekeepers we see the results ( dead hives or weakened hives) and after a
couple seasons we are forced to stop believing what big ag tells us and go
with our observations.

Before other migratory pollination  started many commercial migratory
beekeepers migrated into soybean fields , cotton fields and irrigated
alfalfa for their honey crops. Sprays on these crops have stopped many from
making honey on these crops. Now in the Midwest many are seeing problems
around soybeans due to being unable to find areas free from soybeans as Paul
says as 30% of my area is soybeans.

With the dollar losing ground daily against other currency the problem does
make a windfall for farmers as other countries want to buy a higher amount
of soybeans and corn so I see no end to the problem. When Allen Dick went
out of business in Canada I could get a dollars worth of bee equipment for
sixty five cents. Not today!

The higher price for Aussie queens & packages is because of the falling U.S.
dollar.

bob

bob

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