I have been telling beekeepers to stay away from corn and soybeans if at all possible.I spoke to two seed reps last year and both comfirmed that 90% of the corn and soybean are pretreated with systemic type pesticides. They both said that as a farmer, you would have a hard time finding untreated seeds, unless you sought seed from organic places.I'm not a bandwagon jumper in regards to this being the sole reason for CCD. But I am leery of locations that seem to have very high mortality losses and the proximate location to corn and soybean.Even before CCD and the recent problems with pesticides, it was always good advice to take into account locations and coming into contact with pesticides.Not something to discourage you. Just something to make you aware of.Welcome to the forum.
Hey Shawn,I'm from Aurora and work over at PNS. Welcome to the boards. There's a pretty cool local information session coming up on March 21st out near Dillsboro. We plan to help newbees and curious folks figure out if this crazy bee thing is worth the effort (it is by the way). Hit me up with an email or pm and I'd be happy to add you to our list and get you the info you need for this bee class. Mike