Hi all

It's customary to deride polls, surveys, and vote counts as skewed and biased. At the same time, people seem willing to readily accept anecdotal information. The Bee Informed Partnership especially has been held out as an example of self-serving disinformation. I completely disagree. Although I have questioned their conclusions from time to time, I believe they are doing the best job possible in an environment that reveres secrecy. But never mind, if one compares their results with the results from Canada, one sees a very similar picture which reinforces the idea that these figures are in fact accurate.

> The Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists (CAPA) and Provincial Apiarists coordinated the annual honey bee wintering loss report for 2019-2020. As in previous years, the survey consisted of harmonized questions based on the national beekeeping industry, with Provincial Apiarists collecting survey data across all provinces. Respondents collectively operated 410,451 honey bee colonies across Canada, representing 50% of all colonies wintered during 2019-2020. 

> The national winter loss, including non-viable bee colonies, was 30.2% with provincial losses ranging from 16.9% to 40.5%. The overall national colony loss reported in 2020 is in the higher range of reported losses since 2007. Through the hard work of beekeepers replacing losses and making increases, Statistics Canada reports show that the total colony count across Canada has increased by 34.8% during the period between 2007 and 2019.

Comment: Losses are high, twice as much as the "acceptable" rate of 15%. However, the last figure is most telling. The total number of colonies grew 35% in the dozen years cited. I have pointed many times to the fact that prior to the so-called CCD era, large scale beekeepers often reported losses in the neighborhood of 33%, due to various causes. Many beekeepers "solved" this problem by increasing the number of hives managed during summer, to offset unavoidable losses. There is a profound difference between extensive and intensive beekeeping. To moralize on the issue is unnecessary and counterproductive.

PLB 

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