Indeed in my opinion Bob Harrison method of dealing with growers who do not give a darn about effects of pesticides on the honeybees that they are renting is the best choice. His method is very simple, gc removing the hives from the areas of pesticide kills as the best solution. Has worked for me. Once I lose a yard to a farmer/grower not following label I am gone from the area.h I have a pollination customer who always claims he never sprays, I have never seen him spray; however, hive strength and honey yields over several years are statistically variant to the average honey yields of my operation. As you would guess I am skeptical of probable pesticide activity based on statistical analysis and am now thinking of leaving this seasonal contract at the end of this year. I also have a farmer/grower who uses methyl bromide under plastic in the fall prior to planting strawberries. This past year the plastic used had less thickness than in prior years resulting in shredding as it was stretched during row formation. It is my opinion that I lost all my hives on this particular operation due to methyl bromide gas forming a cloud over the field on a windless still night and encapsulated my hives. I have since learned that the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer services has the capability of testing freshly deceased honeybees. Thatfs right, they are now using Liquid Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometers, (LC/MS to jim) to identify pesticide kills. Of course this will only be able to identify the bees either killed inside their home or the ones who made it back to the hive and later died. Bees lost to pesticide spraying often never make it back to their hives. Aaron mentioned,h For instance, Dave Green has many times mentioned pesticide kills in the height of winter (as if South Carolina had a clue about winter ;-), where hives succumb to poisoned pollen stored months earlier.h To which I reply, one good thing is that the chemical industry is moving away from microencapsulated pesticide capsules. Unfortunately there are still farmers who have and use the stuff. Bees think that this is pollen and bring it back to the hive to store and feed brood. How the FDA could have allowed this stuff to hit the market in the first place is beyond common sense. Aaron also asked, gAnd even if I@were to quickly jump to a pesticide poisoning conclusion, how would I begin to find the source? Where would I begin?h Perhaps the New York State Dept. of Agriculture has a testing service like North Carolinafs. If not then perhaps the State Beekeepers Association could become a squeaky wheel. Finally, I went to the Lowes Home Improvement regional guru for their home and garden section and asked if they could work with me to establish some sort of educational display in proximity to their pesticide area which would serve to educate homeowners on how to use pesticides with minimal damage to honeybees and other pollinators. I really would have liked to see something develop; they were not interested. Chuck Norton Nortonfs Nut & Honey Farm Reidsville, NC :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::