Government spending $3M to feed hungry bees

I had a professor in college who, when he wanted to make a point, would raise his right arm with fingers spread and looking us in the eye, shake his hand and say, "Did I say it?" We knew to write that down because it would be on the next test. I have stated before in this blog the importance of the honeybee population in America to many crops--about $15 billion worth.

In this weeks Associated Press, an article about USDA spending $3,000,000 to feed hungry bees struck me as pathetic.

The government mandates bio-fuels to replace some portion of oil and natural gas, thus doubling the price of corn and inspiring farmers to farm every square foot of their land instead of leaving some fallow and providing fence rows for pheasants, rabbits, birds, and coyotes to roam. But they didn't consult the bees. Bees, who pollinate most everything, were robbed of habitat and then bathed with pesticides. Some 30% of them died off.

So--the government slices out $3 million to give to farmers to "reseed pastures with alfalfa, clover, and other plants appealing to both bees and livestock. Corn, soybean and other farmers can qualify for money to plant cover crops, which typically go in after the regular harvest and help improve soil health."

Interesting, that the government by its dictate to produce bio-fuels has doubled the farmers income from those crops and because of the degradation of the land they farm is now paying them to plant crops that will give honeybees a chance to survive so they can pollinate $15 Billion worth of produce each year.

I am going to write a book someday with the title, "Unintended Consequences." It will showcase the continuous circle of government interference in the free market and how the US taxpayer is taken to the cleaner by unintended consequences of the laws Congress passes.

My upcoming novel, As All My Fathers Were, deals with the battle between sustainable vs industrial agriculture along the Platte River in Nebraska. The Oscar nominated film, Nebraska, the inclusion of the first chapter of my novel in the e-magazine, Nebraska Rural Living, AND the all important Keystone Pipeline project decision hovering over the White House make Nebraska a hot spot for attention this year--not to forget the bees however.