Don wrote:
 
>        I was wondering, while researching both the hobby and the profession of
>beekeeping and apiary work, is there a shortage of beekeepers in North
>America/Canada or are beekeepers in fairly large quantities?
 
Clearly many beekeepers, mostly hobbiests, gave up on beekeeping.  "Didn't
used to have to do all that stuff to keep my bees alive...if they can't
make it on their own..."
 
In Arkansas we went from well over 2000 beekeepers at the beginning of this
decade to under 1200 today.  I'm presently teaching beginning beekeeping
classes all over the state to a "post-mite" crop of new beekeepers.  With a
new awareness of the importance of beekeeping, I'm seeing an eagerness for
new starters.  They will not have known beekeeping prior to mite problems
and, if they learn, can give a growing bee population a real chance.
Anyway, that's my hope and, over the last two years, we are gaining about
75 to 100 new beekeepers each year.
 
Ed Levi, Apiary Specialist and Inspector