My apologies to any I may offend in advance...These are the musings of a
third world emigrant, astounded at the squandered wealth in the first
world...

> Beekeepers blame China. They blame Argentina

I feel for Luella and Horace Bell, and every other producer in any country
being placed under pressure by 'foreign' imports, but that honey getting
sold at third rate prices is some third world farmers livelihood. One of the
reasons I  am drawn to honey farming is that it seems a sustainable form of
production, unsuited to factory farming. I realise that there are honey
millionaires, and undoubtedly will be more, especially middlemen, but the
producers of quality honey must be governed first and foremost by their
market...which should start with their local community. Rather than burning
those hives I would hope that every beekeeper who wore a veil for them be
given their pick, perhaps for a yearly percentage of produce.

All sweet gold, and the Bells say they can`t sell it. At least, they and
> beekeepers across America can`t sell it as cheap as the honey flooding in
> from China and Argentina

There is no such thing as a good product which cannot be sold. There are
lifestyles which cannot be maintained, and 'empires' which are unsustainable
in an equal opportunity market. The Bells have run their business for as
long as I've been alive and I beg their pardon for suggesting that 40 000
Hives are too many to realistically sustain. I'm no communist, but when
workers are paid realistic wages (as seems the norm here in the UK) then the
'bosses of industry'  find large operations becoming pyramids balancing on
their points...that any threat will topple.

> The Bells spent a lifetime coaxing the pain out of bee stings and an
honest
> living from honey.

I hope Luella and Horace can adjust their lives to fewer hives, a smaller
market and a better mark up. With a warehouse full of high quality stock to
tide them through poor seasons they're still light years ahead of most of
us, and galaxies ahead of Chinese and other beefarmers. This world is
becoming smaller daily, and the fact of the matter is that the third world
must begin sustainable production, steal, or die. It seems unChristian and
inhumane to me to deny them a chance to live, especially fellow beekeepers

.> Cheap foreign honey, priced between 30 and 50 cents a pound, has flooded
the
> U.S. market. American beekeepers say it takes them about 70 cents a pound
> just to break-even.
>
> Does the imported honey taste good? Local beekeepers have nothing good to
> say about the flavor of the imported honey. But packers and the food
> industry love it because it cuts their costs.

If a youngster struggling to manage his first dozen hives may be so bold as
to offer advice to the Bells it is "downscale!". We can't deny the needs of
the beekeepers in the third world for markets, anymore than we should sell
them cola when they're crying out for rice. Use your amassed knowledge to
produce the finest, purest honey money can buy. Good honey is a rare
treasure,one that tastes better and delivers more health benefits the closer
to
source it is consumed. Educating your local market is the right place to
start.

Children don't love honey the way we do because the romance is gone...a tin
of red
goo generally looks better on the shelf, and has something under the lid to
collect too! A little education and marketing will have the children wanting
honey on toast again, and the mix that goes on breakfast cereal and into
cough medicine just won't match our product.

 We cannot, in fact must not, stop international trading -  but we need to
untangle the web that has been created by tycoons and their politicians out
of simple business transactions. It is insanity that the taxes we pay as
first world citizens help subsidise the undermining of our own means of
support... but I digress to a path that will lead us miles away from the
pleasures of bees...

My sympathy is with the Bells, but we must all expand our vision to see this
entire world. If we dont do something soon we're going to have many more
millions of deaths on our consciences, or a war of frustration .  I see
sustainable practices, designed or modified along permaculture principles as
a way forward. Unfortunately 'empires' just don't fit in to a fairer trading
system.