Thank you Gary for sharing your son in law's response. I totally agree with his statement. Statistics is important for providing information for understanding industry economy and developing plans to help improve services and all other needs.

In Canada the federal statistics agency does annual survey for producers and also asks provincial specialists for commodity info. Thus they are able to track down info from all sources. They also audit the info.
At certain time the Feds attempted to cut down some of the surveys due to budget. Many agencies and commodity groups demanded the Feds to reinstate these services.
In my own little world I do annual surveys for management practices of bees. When I do data mining I can get lots of info that helps me to shape up my program objectives and goals. I present my results to Beekeepers. Thus they get an idea of what is happening across the province. Of course I don't share the identity of the participants.

I always encourage Beekeepers to respond. It is 15-30 min of each person time. If you add up the total number of minutes of participants, it will give you indication of how much info collected.

Medhat Nasr

Edmonton Canada


This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html