The days of the Clouded Yellow - trying to unravel a butterfly puzzle

Wandering around the flower meadows in this part of the Tarn at this time of the year shows just how common the Clouded Yellow is in these parts. Up until 1945 there was some confusion as to just how many species of 'Clouded Yellow' there were. The Clouded Yellow proper (Coleas croceus) is the one that people who live in the UK are mostly likely to see. Most of them arrive in the UK as migrants from Southern Europe and the species seldom survives the damp, cold, English winters. Coleas crocus is

What happened during the ban on neonicotinoids?

What will farmers do if the ban on neonicotinoids is made permanent? What happened to crop production levels and the health of bees during the ban? In the UK, and I suspect in most heavily farmed EU countries, neonics used to be applied to ~30% of cropped land. The best guess we can make is that during the ban,  farmers probably turned to the alternative compounds that are currently licensed for use. The problem of course is that the alternatives also have their downsides. Thus, in many ways we