Glyphosate implicated in bee die-offs

As a scientist myself, I get cherry picking. You need to do some very, very serious cherry picking of all the available data to say glyphosate is a significant factor in bee die-offs. There have been hundreds and hundreds of studies both in the lab and in the field. The near complete agreement among these studies is why you can buy glyphosate (but not LOTS of other chemicals) over the counter at WalMart.

Farmers don’t plant monocultures because they want to, they do it to survive financially. But this isn’t the only reason- planting an additional crop, or modifying plantings in any way, requires more paperwork than most people could possibly believe. Here in Maryland if a farmer wants to plant a single row of anything new they need to file plans to do this, get it approved locally and by the state, possibly buy new machinery to deal with this new plant, identify markets, etc etc. Paperwork takes time, and time is money.

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I highly suspect corn does have something to do with much of the bee hive collapses. It’s the corn that kills the corn ear worms…what’s to keep the pollen bees collect from killing their own worms (larvae stage of baby bees)…when they bring it to the beehives and the nurse bees feed it to the babies?

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Don’t worry, in another 5 years BT corn will probably be completely ineffective against the pests it’s designed for. The way you sustain the efficacy of a pesticide is by rotating it with pesticides of a different chemistry. I wonder why no one told Monsanto that?

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Just read an article in the economist about how Cuba’s bees produce twice the honey of American hives. https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2018/09/22/cubas-thriving-honey-business

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Speaking of honey bees, I’m seeing many more of them than I have in years here in S. NY. On my own property they swarm my fruit and lap up any juice cracks or yellow jacket mining projects create access to.

It makes me wonder if they are taking the juice back to the hive to make honey out of, although it seems more like they are snacking on “company time”.

Hmmm, peach- nectarine honey sounds good.

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Now reported over at NPR.

“They hope their results will convince farmers, landscapers and homeowners to stop spraying glyphosate-based herbicides on flowering plants that are likely to be pollinated by bees.”

I suspect that it may be more likely that other scientists will develop a tougher bee. I also suspect that these scientists have absolutely no background on the economics of world agriculture and the significance of glyphosphate in those economics.

If we don’t look at these issues holistically, our solutions may be more destructive than the problems. This stated position by these scientists may be considered irresponsible in that context, although I’m sure their intentions are good.

Certainly, where farmers can economically alter practices to reduce exposure, such as spraying earlier before weeds flower, they should be encouraged or even required to do so, if the science shows that this is ultimately a more productive manner to produce food (considering our need for honeybees in that context).

I’m not worried about home-owners one way or another. I’m a small tree farmer and choose not to use glyphosphate at all, but the decision costs me a lot of money. However, my product is a luxury, unlike that of “real” farmers. Weed free lawns and flower beds without mechanical weed control are also a luxury.