to me we've made a big science project out of a what some common sense could help solve.
ponder having an operation of 500 hives that is on clean comb never contaminated with any harsh
mite treatments, using russian or resistant genetics and a combination of other soft treatments.
consider that these hives are not moved but rather placed permanently where no heavy farming
pressure exsits. assume that they are located in the north where a 2-3 month no brood cycle
exists.
now consider another 500 hive operation which is moved repeatedly for pollination and is on
some level of contaminated comb and portions of the season sits on heavy ag use land. assume
this operation moves to warm climes during the off season and amps up their bees for almonds
with lots of gmo based feed and gmo soy based pollen subsitutues. assume they have heavy mite
pressure every spring from no down time for the brood cycle and bees that are mite happy mass
produced conveyor belt italians with no breeding selection criteria other then laying eggs
whenever some HFCS comes down the pipe. assume they mingle with other feedlot bees
why would anyone spend any money or time studying the problems associated with the second
operation? i'm not sure that federal or other research money is well spent looking into the
practices employed by the second kind of operation. its the same stupidity as subsidizing
industiral farming practices that are corporate profit based and short on benefits to the
community and environment.
our government should have a sustainable farming standard and only fund activities that meet
some kind of standard of common sense and sustainable practices. if we fund the feedlot
practices side of the equation then we risk pushing those problems onto the other side of the
fence also.
As I started this thread i'll repeat my beleif that CCD has turned into an over blown media circus of
epic proportions while common sense sits by the sidelines. IMO the losses were never that big as
compared to other historical losses and the likely sources of the problems are inherently flawed
practices doomed to never ending problems. its a big sham!
CCD = The Y2K Bee story of 2007!
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