> Most, I understand, have eventually ended and the results lost when the central personality retired, died, or lost interest.
I think you are onto the key point. If a strain of bees were produced that outperformed all others (by whatever metric you choose) that strain ought to be preferred by customers and the producer rewarded for his/her efforts. If the strain is _not that much different_, people will buy whatever they can get.
Ben Oldroyd wrote years ago that the high cost of producing quality stock prevented it from ever being cost effective. You can buy queens today that are instrumentally inseminated, for $275. The same vendor has open mated queens for $85. The questions: what will you pay? and what will you expect to get?
PLB
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