> >Randy, do you and others agree with the following report that > a honey bee supply crisis could be looming due to > "unsustainable average operational losses? Paul, I'm no economist, and I also feel compassion for beekeepers who face devastating losses. However, the recent history of supply and demand for bees in Calif almonds may be instructive. Despite CCD, drought, pesticides, varroa, etc, when the demand for bees for almond pollination drove the offered price up, beekeepers were able to respond by increasing the supply. Many beeks (myself included) routinely make plenty of increase every season. It is not difficult to double your number of overwintered colonies each spring. If you're willing to forgo some of your honey crop, you can increase by a factor of 3 or 4. It appears to me that the supply of bees depends mainly upon financial motivation. High prices for pollination rent or for honey motivate beekeepers to produce more colonies. Low prices make it unprofitable to do so. So the question is not really about operational losses, but how much the market is willing to pay for pollination and honey. If honey sold wholesale for $10 a pound, I imagine that industrious beekeepers would expand their numbers of colonies within a year. So any looming supply crisis would be driven only by lack of demand. Randy Oliver *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html