Hi all
I would like to voice strongly the opinion that government involvement in the pollination market should not be viewed as a "good thing." Government involvement in the bee industry time and time again has produce severe negative consequences damaging markets and rewarding the few at the expense of the many. Here are some highlights from a thoughtful analysis by Antoine Champetier, University of California Davis Agricultural Issues Center:
quoted text follows:
The lack of analysis of the economic behavior of bee-keepers can be found in recent discussions over pollinator declines. The increase in pest and parasite pressure on bee health and the rise in the frequency of colony losses during winter have been designated as the main drivers of a decline in the number of honey producing colonies in the United States, as counted and published in USDA’s Honey reports.
Although it is clear that biological factors have a large influence on the economic behavior of beekeepers, the attribution of the causes of declines cannot be safely undertaken without a close look at such behavior. Indeed, shifts in the demand for honey or pollination services alone could explain the observed changes in hive numbers.
The little attention paid to the economic nature of modern beekeeping, in academic and policy discussions at least, has resulted in an incorrect interpretation of the data available on colony numbers. The decline in the number of honey bee colonies counted by the USDA and published in the Honey reports have been the main evidence used to support the idea that pollination services have become scarcer in the last few decades.
The most notable change for the beekeeping industry during that period was the drastic rise in demand for pollination services in almonds which has driven national averages of pollination revenues to record highs. The supply response of beekeepers to the almond rush is only visible in the Census data.
It seems that Honey report data, which counts are based on honey production only, provide an increasingly incomplete picture of the beekeeping industry as the share of pollination revenues in beekeeping continue to increase. Unfortunately, the decline in the number of hive counts alone has received public attention in recent years.
The economic problems that pollination markets tackle are complex. Although the efficiency of these spontaneous institutions remains to be fully measured and understood, there is some evidence that … pollination markets may solve the problem of the management of a renewable and migratory stock which economic value derives from both extraction and the provision of a service.
Champetier, A. (2010, July). The dynamics of pollination markets. In Agricultural and Applied Economics Association 2010 Joint Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado (pp. 25-27).
Note:
In other words, the free market is capable of solving the problem of pollination of crops. There has never been demonstrated by anyone a pollination shortfall that cannot be addressed by the increase of pollination fees. The falling of prices for pollination and honey has a direct effect on the colony numbers in the country, the converse is true as well.
The constant misstatement that numbers are in decline, that pollination of the nations crops will not be possible, contributes nothing but misunderstanding, confusion, and influence peddling. The voices of reason are drowned out by the emotional rhetoric of the few who are focused on their private agendas and have little concern for the bigger picture
PLB
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