@Patty_Melt There is a link to another article imbedded in that article explaining Trump’s actions against the Environmental Protection Agency.
@All My partner and I own a bee hive in England. We set it up this past Spring in our back garden. We also belong to a FB group called UK Beekeepers. Every day, there are posts from beekeepers with questions.
In all, it is a fairly simple hobby. The bees pretty much take care of themselves. All we have to do is inspect the hive every one or two weeks to make sure the queen is still there, there isn’t a sign of them swarming, that they have enough food, and that there aren’t any parasites or mice that have moved in. We also supply a water source for the bees near the hive.
The challenge pertaining to pesticides is that there is no way to control where the bees go to collect the pollen that they use to make honey. My partner bought about a dozen fruit trees and plants for them, but our hive barely touched them. They headed off each morning over the garden walls to some other source at least one had found and conveyed to the others. Supposedly, honeybees will travel up to three miles away from the hive to collect pollen.
We have no idea if any of their pollen sources have been treated with chemicals, or what type. It’s just a matter of inspecting the hive on a regular basis to ensure that all is normal. Some people in the FB group have reported losing a hive. It is rarely from pesticides. If there is any doubt, dead bees can be sent to an agency for testing.