I have addressed this before and we have had a few off-list comments but I am still curious about what useful information can be cleaned from these average self reported numbers. It is certainly true that many management practices do not scale so what a particularly successful hobbyist does may not be relevant to  a large operation and vice versa. Still the best way for a beekeeper to improve is to learn from another in similar circumstance who has consistent losses of <10%. They are out there in every category. I don't give a hoot what someone that looses >30% of their colonies does. I don't learn anything by hearing that 30,40,60% of managed colonies were lost. I want to hear from the people that do better then me not that PPB endures. 

It boils down to the surveyors main goal being perpetuation of position (POP) and the press needing to sell advertising with shocking headlines. For those of us who want to be better beekeepers we need to look elsewhere. Like BEE-L for instance. 

Paul  

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