Hi all

I am reluctant to get embroiled in discussions about statistics and so-called facts. One of the reason is this cautionary tale:

At one point USDA changed their method of counting colonies in the US and the number went from 4.3 million in 1985 go 3.2 million in 1986. Amazingly -- the average honey production went from 35 pounds in 1985 to 71 pounds per hive in 1987! A 100% increase. Good work beekeepers! 

Hardly anyone mentions this, when discussing the bee industry in the US. They just assume that statistics = facts = reality. Unfortunately, with data collection, you don't find what you don't look for. And then there is that little bugaboo of counting hives more than once in the same year if they are moved from state to state ... 

Peter L Borst

Source: The U.S. Beekeeping Industry. By Frederic L. Hoff, Commodity Economics Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Lois Schertz Willett, Department of Agricultural Economics, Cornell University. Agricultural Economic Report No. 680.

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