> Apparently Dewayne felt otherwise.
>
> > From memory, I would have been surprised if the subject line hit
> > even 5% of the total in either month, so, I read through
> > the posts again.

> Maybe Dewayne considers BEE-L a "message board". Maybe Dewayne
> is not even a member? Don't know?

'Feeling' and 'considering' are not good reporting, and I am still looking
for the "roar"... or maybe this is it?  Looking back, someone really should
have questioned more strongly, but, then, everyone was benefitting from the
tale.  Nobody wanted to question the 'facts'.

> > Sad as I consider the information I posted to be the most
> > important industry information posted on BEE-L in 2004

Or misinformation.  Maybe I should say, misdirection.  Granted, it was a
very useful story for the industry, and, as with such stories, it has a
basis in fact, that makes the conclusions proposed seem credible.

Sure, tens of thousands of hives were crashing, but I think that has been
true every few years, for the three (plus) decades I have owned bees.  Every
time, vague numbers have been suggested, a different villain has been found
and every time, another self-serving conclusion ihas been reached.  Same
old, same old.

The *real* story this time was the shortage of bees for pollination, and
that has been coming for a long time.
"Tens of thousands of hives crashing" was not the real cause.  IMO, anyhow.

In recent years, almond acres and prices have been increasing, while hive
numbers and real dollar honey returns have been declining. Pollination fees
have been flat.  With demand for bees for pollination increasing, and with
the low pollination fee offered being better than honey prices, beekeepers
managed to fill the demand.

However, we have been rapidly approaching the tipping point when one more
new almond acre could not attract one more bee hive from somewhere across
the USA.

Moreover, when a sudden, short spike in honey price occurred, some
beekeepers pulled back from pollination and managed their bees for honey.
That change may have resulted in a different management style in some cases,
and running different hive numbers and configurations in others.  It also
changed the attitude of many beekeepers to pollination and the kind of money
they were paid there.

Prices are set at the margin, and when there is a shortage, the bidding
begins.  Prices for pollination suddenly doubled, and suddenly those locked
in at low prices needed an out -- a story, and guess what was handy?

What *are* the numbers?  What are the facts?  We still do not know.  Will we
ever get to the bottom of this?  I doubt it.

This industry is in need of reporters who report, not parrot, and editors
who read critically and demand facts, not comfortable rumours and myths.

In my opinion, anyhow.

allen
A Beekeeper's Diary: http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/

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