Randy and all,  allow me to indulge in a little pontification    

   The complex matrix of environmental conditions within which an insect 
lives is never static.  Sometimes it is changing slowly and other times it 
is changing relatively quickly.  If we use the classic definition 
of “species” which is any group having the ability to interbreed and 
produce offspring that are fertile, then I am guessing most bees in the 
genus Apis could be said to be in the same species.  That species has been 
around for a long, long time and yet at the same time many sets of 
characteristics have certainly come and gone as the need for them changes.  
So while no one set of characteristics represented by a given sub-species 
of Apis is likely to stay intact over the long haul, given the natural 
variability within this diverse species, it is safe to say the species will 
survive even the radical and bizarre manipulations of its environment 
imposed by man.  The question then is not whether honey bees will survive, 
but whether beekeepers will survive and what methods will they have to 
adapt in order to do so.  And for the purposes of the beekeeper does the 
honeybee really lend itself to the levels of interference that modern 
agriculture has come to impose on it?  We seem to be in a period of 
judgment on that question.  

     It’s not that organically or alternatively or biodynamically kept bees 
are impervious to stress.  But I think it is always smart to ask of any 
given stress that might be imposed, how this problem would be dealt with in 
nature in the absence of human tinkering. Given whatever your beekeeping 
goals might be, the idea is that to the extent that your beekeeping 
practices flow with the forces and tendencies of nature rather than against 
them, you will be at an advantage, especially in the long run.  For me it 
is not a question of good or bad, but simply what works and what doesn’t 
work and more importantly what will be working in the future.  I do think 
that some of these less industrial practices work more closely with this 
question of how nature would handle a given situation.  It’s more or less 
built into so called “organic” methods whereas it seems the greater 
beekeeping industry is more focused on “How can we make these bees do what 
we want them to do?” which often boils down to “How can we keep these bees 
alive long enough to get through this year’s almonds?”  As it turns out 
this approach may be too short sighted.  
     
     It’s not just in beekeeping that this kind of thing is happening.  The 
blind faith in a technological answer for everything results in farmers 
asking “What can we put on or in this corn to keep it from getting eaten up 
by bugs this year?” and “How can we keep the cost down?” which almost 
always translates into “How can we avoid paying for all the costs?”  And so 
the beekeeper may be incurring some of the costs of the crop grower.  But 
beekeepers may be incurring some of the costs of other beekeepers as well 
if the practices of one group are too short sighted and result in 
unforeseen problems that spill out into the greater beekeeping community.  
In fact this may be what is happening with respect to viruses.  If it turns 
out that keeping tens of thousands of colonies in a single holding yard 
provides the ideal conditions for viruses to mutate and spread and these 
viruses then get shipped all over the country we would essentially have a 
situation where lots of stationary beekeepers would be paying a cost of 
keeping bees in giant holding yards; a cost for which they get no benefit.  
I’m not passing judgment on anyone here.  And I don’t think anyone has all 
the answers.  But these are elements of modern beekeeping that need to be 
kept in mind as we move into a future that will almost certainly look much 
different that the present.   End of speech.

Steve Noble   

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