Personally, I hope Monsanto showers bee researchers and scientists with grant money. We can all read, and evaluate their methodology, and decide for ourselves if their results are valid.
Monsanto is a business, and job one is earning money for shareholders. But that does not, past gaffes (and many of those have been overstated) notwithstanding, mean they are out to kill bees, or act against the best interests of healthy humans, stock and crops. That would not serve the long term interests of the corporation.
I do not think a polarized debate, and polarized positions, are going to help any of us. We need to work with researchers, even if funded by Monsanto and its holding companies, and work with agribusiness companies, to be sure the needs of bees and beekeepers are publicized and met. Walking out on BeeLogic or Monsanto speakers (which happened in our last association meeting as well) is not going to help.
Monsanto products are, as someone mentioned, feeding lots of people. There is nothing wrong, and much right, with improving crops, even with genetic modification, if it is regulated and examined (which it presently is, although I would like there to be more regulation and more noise about that process, particularly in the Third World testing fields, where desperation and hunger tempt people to take shortcuts). I would be happy if Monsanto engineered pest resistant crops (instead of pesticide resistant crops) AS LONG AS the pollen, nectar and field detritus/dust are safe for living things. I think this is achievable.
Beekeepers need to speak up and they need to listen, if only to gain an opportunity to speak up at the highest levels. You can bet Jerry will sit down with Monsanto execs and say "hey, they are ready to tar and feather me out there! Beekeepers need to hear you are taking care of their interests, because they are a big, powerful lobby with the greens and environmentalists, not to mention every mommy feeding kids in America, at their backs. Here is what they told me....". I hope he attends TONS of beekeeper association meetings and hears beekeeper concerns over and over and over again!!!
I would also be very happy to buy a Monsanto product that via RNAi techniques, stopped the life cycles of the pests, bacteria and viruses plaguing bees. That technique is at the forefront of medical research helping people and it can help the bees too. I would much rather buy a species specific kill than soak my hives in miticides, hoping the bees can take the side effects.
Science does not have to be Franken-science.