Bob Harrison said:

> The closing of bee labs in part is coming from long
> term projections for a huge reduction in commercial
> beekeeping in the U.S. over the next ten years.

> The most recent prediction of gloom and doom came
> from the excellent lecture given by world renown
> economist and sideline beekeeper Dr. Gary Shilling

While cries of "the death of beekeeping, film at 11:00"
are attention-getting, such a position assumes that no
solutions will be found to any of the problems the
industry faces.  The posture also ignores the fact that
beekeepers face exactly the same problems planetwide,
and the country that solves the problems gains a
significant edge over those who do not.

With all the talk about "homeland security", one would
think that some tiny fraction of the "security" funds might
be allocated to assure that the US continues to produce
so much food that we can continue to afford to use it as
a tool of diplomacy.  Which is more critical - food or oil?
Which gives one more leverage?

Cutting research funding makes the "prediction" of the
death of US commercial beekeeping a self-fulfilling
prophesy.

It is a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Anyway, the opinions of economists about the future are
about as useful as a deaf person's opinion of music.

Economists practice a form of divination known to those
of us in the hard sciences as "retroactive clairvoyance".
They can make up tidy explanations for why something
happened, but they never seem to be able to predict any
single trend or event in advance.  A good example is the
sudden movement of the US stock markets from the
stratosphere to the dumpster.  If economists are so smart
about finance and business, why didn't they see that one
coming?  Why aren't they the richest people on the planet?
Isn't "money" supposed to be their area of expertise?

> The next two big problems pointed out by Dr. Shilling are:

> Protectionism WILL NOT protect the American Beekeeper
> from the problem of low price foreign honey.

This "news" is as old as the Greek city-states.
Protectionism has NEVER worked in the long haul.
No surprise there.  Protectionism is a Band-Aid.

But how does one solve this problem?  Clearly, one
needs to somehow reduce labor and cost per hive.
How we gonna do that?
How does one solve ANY problem?   RESEARCH!!!!

> The next mark is coming over the next 2-to 3 years
> when coumaphos resistance ravages  commercial
> operations...

Again, the only way to solve the pest problem is
(all together now) RESEARCH!!!

> when hive losses mount to the 50% range neither honey
> can be produced or bees rented for pollination in amounts
> needed to keep the business solvent.

Sounds like a problem.  Want to solve a problem?
Any problem?  Its not that hard:

a) Get some really bright, well-educated people together

b) Toss in some money for microscopes, computers,
    test tubes, Nerf toys, whatever

c)  Explain your problems, and ask nicely if they will
     think about your problems.

d)  And then LEAVE THEM ALONE

Bake for periods ranging from months to years at 375 degrees,
and voila!  The solution is ready to serve to party guests.

Yes, it is just that easy:

              Brains + Money + Time = Answers

Want answers faster?  Toss in more brains and more money.

Is the process a "gamble"?  No, it is a statistically certainty
that useful ideas will result, often sooner than expected.

The litany of problems recited by Dr. Shilling is nothing more
than a list of clear and compelling reasons why MORE
research funding is justified under the current circumstances.

Anyone who wants to declare beekeeping "dead" is ignoring a
basic trait of man - given two rocks, man will bang them together
just to see what happens.  After a while, man has an edged tool.
He them promptly starts to use that tool to make a better tool.

Given time and enough rocks, man makes enough tools to get us
where we are now, which beats the heck out of living in caves.

But we still have time, we are no less curious, and there are
lots of things still needing to be "banged against each other".

So, the trick is to KEEP banging the rocks together,
a cony old saying that, like many old sayings, happens
to be true.

        jim