Bill T   <<So there are no statistics? Could your own beekeeping federation undertake
to have something like
http://beeinformed.org/
where beekeepers and inspectors cooperate to get information about winter
survival?>>

Thanks for the link. Most regional federations do random surveys but the samples are usually small due to lack of funding. When Sarkozy was president funding was cut nationally and many regions now have no bee inspectors. Our own Federation decided to train our own inspectors by putting them through courses that give a nationally recognised diploma. The aim now is to inspect every apiary in our region every 3 years. Other regions are seeing this as an opportunity and our federation is now training others.

<<Or are there statistics and they are disagreed with? If so, why are they not credible?>>

All beekeepers in France have to fill in a form called the annual declaration. The problem is that this form is sent off in December, at the end of our season going into winter. Obviously, no conclusions about winter losses can be drawn from this. 
To make things worse we are declaring “productive hives”. How does one define a productive hive, especially when the majority of hives are run by hobby or part time beekeepers? I’m not saying that we are any more dishonest than other countries but knowing that the sales from up to 12 hives are untaxed and up to 50 hives carry no sales tax there is a big incentive to understate things.

Regards,
Bil, France

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