North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Gary Woods <garygarlic@earthlink.net>]

On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:05:40 -0400, you wrote:

>Why would honeybees harvest corn pollen?  I
>always thought that bees harvested nectar, and pollination was a side effect
>of their efforts to collect nectar.  

Bees harvest pollen to digest and feed the larval stage, the "brood."  I
often see workers coming in early spring with big light-yellow globs of
willow pollen on their legs.  Corn produces a lot of pollen, so is very
attractive.  
(Rant warning)
Corn pollen with built-in BT has already been shown to breed resistance in
the worms it kills, and the producers of this line know it and have other
pesticides waiting in the wings.  Too bad about the organic growers who
have been using BT and have few other options.
#endrant

Personally, I think the whole GM thing is more about market control than
feeding the world.

But that's just my opinion.
I may be wrong.

Nothing blooming up here yet, but the snow is finally melting at a great
rate.


Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G