March 13, 2013 - New York Times
The monarch migration population to their winter home in a Mexican forest sank this year to a 59 percent decline ince December 2011 due to extreme weather and a lack of the milkweed that the butterflies feed on, experts say.
But an equally alarming source of the decline is the explosive increase in American farmland planted in soybean and corn genetically modified to tolerate herbicides.
The American Midwest’s corn belt is a critical feeding ground for monarchs, which once found a ready source of milkweed growing between the rows of millions of acres of soybean and corn. But the ubiquitous use of herbicide-tolerant crops has enabled farmers to wipe out the milkweed, and with it much of the butterflies’ food supply.
“That habitat is virtually gone. We’ve lost well over 120 million acres, and probably closer to 150 million acres,” Mr. Taylor said.
A rapid expansion of farmland — more than 25 million new acres in the United States since 2007 — has eaten away grasslands and conservation reserves that supplied the monarchs with milkweed" ... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/science/earth/monarch-migration-plunges-to-lowest-level-in-decades.html?smid=tw-nytnational&seid=auto
March 14, 2013 - Guardian Environment
MEXICAN MONARCH BUTTERFLY NUMBERS DROP 59% TO RECORD LOWS - SIXTH DECLINE IN SEVEN YEARS http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/14/mexican-monarch-butterfly-numbers
March 15, 2013 - By Lincoln IP. Brower and Homero Aridjis - New York Times
THE DYING OF THE MONARCH BUTTERFLIES http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/opinion/the-dying-of-the-monarch-butterflies.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y
MONSANTO RIDER" IN FARM BILL EXEMPTS AGRIBUSINESS FROM LIABILITY FOR BIOCROPS, PESTICIDES, CHEMICALS AND ELIMINATES GOVERNMENT POWER TO REGULATE THEM ... http://grist.org/article/frankenfoods-hitch-a-ride-through-congress-but-you-can-help-stop-them/
FRANKENFOODS HITCH A RIDE THROUGH US CONGRESS, FREE FROM LIABILITY AND REGULATION - BUT YOU CAN STOP IT http://sco.lt/526Rmr
SEE:
PESTICIDES AND BEES http://www.scoop.it/t/agriculture-gmos-pesticides?q=BEES
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