James Fischer wrote:

> I have no idea how to de-program these misinformed people
> and get them away from the ignorant dogma of the cults
> they have been sucked into, but I welcome input from 
> others who have run into these willfully incorrigible
> so-called "beekeepers" and their so-called "teachers". 

Often. I taught many in our chapter's bee school.

The unfortunate result is they drop out of beekeeping since they 
continually lose colonies. Most are well informed organic farmers who 
want to pollinate their crops with organic bees. They attend classes 
but reject any non-organic mite controls. They champion many of the 
"proven" organic methods.

Those that do survive as "organic" beekeepers, the less pure, go with 
thymol, oxalic and formic since they are "organic". The dirty little 
secret of most organic farming is that there are loopholes that allow 
shifting back to conventional practices since there are no organic 
solutions to many diseases and other pathogens found in nature. Enter 
the antibiotics or other normal treatments found in non-organic farms.

For reasons that have been enumerated on this list, organic beekeeping 
in the US has drifted over the edge. It is not sustainable unless you 
   bend the rules.

It is interesting that had you invested in the, recommended by motley 
fool, "whole foods" stock (organic) compared to the evil Monsanto GMO 
purveyors of evil seeds, you would have lost money compared to a 35% 
increase for Monsanto just this year (check the WSJ for Wednesday of 
last week- good article). The current food crisis has shifted away 
from organic to GMO as the real savior of the third world. Most 
organic farming that is heralded by those in the developed countries 
keep them on the farm in a labor intensive subsistence world.

I loved an article on ethanol production in Brazil which touted the 
use of peasants to harvest the cane, which saved on diesel and 
tractors. It was all about how Brazil has become energy sufficient 
because of ethanol production. Dirty little secrete is that Brazil 
pumps more oil and that is the actual reason. Ethanol production has 
remained the same, while oil production has dramatically increased. 
But who cares about facts.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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