Market Farming

[Richard Stewart <rstewart AT zoomtown.com>]

I'll be blunt here...

I think signing this petition without actually understanding what is going on is ignorant and detrimental to the protection of pollinators.  I loathe pesticides but I also understand that in the world of high population, increasing food costs AND conventional agriculture that there are MUCH more dangerous pesticides out there that are still legal to use AND still readily available if the demand is there.  The costs to the environment, to growers, to consumers, AND to bees will be much higher.

As to the article itself, this research would be the only research to date showing a definite link (event he French studies had issues in its methodology...AND France has also ended the ban of neonics as has Germany, where bee losses continued even though they were no longer being exposed to the pesticide).  All of the work is lab work and there is ZERO data out there reproducing lab result.  There is research showing that there are over 200 different non-pesticide chemicals that impact the immune system of colony, including gasoline and diesel fuel.  Neem oil if applied to the colony would also destroy it. In the end the study is unpublished yet we treat it as fact.  You might as well tell me that the world is flat or that it was created 6000 years ago.

The fact that it was NOT published COULD mean that it was found to be lacking for some reason and was refused.  I do not know the reason here but I find that whole thing suspicious, especially when I as a beekeeper and farmer that farms both conventionally (though pesticide free) and organically (pesticide free)

In Canada, where there are millions of acres of GMO-neonic treated canola, there is little real world evidence that thousands of colonies bees exposed to these crops (huge seed crops there as well as commodity crops) have had any obvious harm befall them.

While, as I have stated before, pesticides COULD be the cause of weakening of the immune system there is simply not enough research proving neonics are responsible.

There are several studies out there pointing a very healthy finger at the current crop of fungicides that have a massive impact on both the enzymes in the bees and the macro immune system in the hive itself as both rely on bacteria.  This could be FAR FAR more important than systemic exposure to neonics, but I am sure you cannot find 1000 people much less a million who would care or understand that.

In the end it may not the pesticides that are causing the problem, but quite possibly the lack of biodiversity AND monocrops (which lead to a increased use in pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides).  I'd like to see focus placed somewhere that would lend to greater impact than a reactionary uninformed outcry that could have far reaching negative outcomes down the line.

In the end imidacloprid could actually be what others are claiming it to be, but right now the data is NOT there.  Please do not confuse this response with a defense of Bayer either.

Just some things to think about.

Richard Stewart

Carriage House Farm

North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855

(513) 967-1106

http://www.carriagehousefarmllc.com

rstewart AT zoomtown.com