>> Now they are owned by firms which prefer to maximize profits over providing the products so cheaply that they are used widely and provide maximum benefit to society.  

>If everyone is in it for the money, it's dog eat dog. But if everything is a giveaway, who pays for it? 

Sorry if the math is too obscure.  In all three cases, the profit is the same, but due to a lower margin, the sales were three times greater and the cost to the beekeeper was probably half in the third case.  The benefit to the company is the same in each case, but the benefit to society is far greater in the third instance.

I can spell that out, too, if necessary, but it should be obvious.  The fixed costs are spread over more sales and marketing costs go down when demand pull takes over due to a good efficacy/cost ratio.

Some companies, particularly those with a niche like the one that USDA endorsement or regulatory approval provide,  tend to try to maximize profit by charging to the point where the benefit to the end user is barely above the cost and many decide it is not worth it.  Others simply charge a reasonable profit above cost and go for volume.   As volume increases, they reduce prices.  People love the latter and hate the former.

At any rate, USDA preference and endorsement for commercial products simply because their labs had a part in development  is unfair to competitors who financed the project with their taxes -- and unfair to consumers who do not recognise that bias and pay extra.

Many decry the fact that many beekeepers make their own treatments with agricultural chemicals and ask whey they do not buy the commercially prepared product which is tested and proven by research and supposedly safer and cleaner, etc.  They would if the companies selling the endorsed formulations did not try to get their full investment back the first day and then make excess profits from their franchise as far into the future as they can.

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