[log in to unmask] (John D Schneider):
>First of all, I love beekeeping, and have the highest regard for it,
both as a profession and as a hobby.  But I sense a great deal of
tunnel-vision in the posts of the many distinguished folks we have heard
from.
>Sure, beekeeping has it's problems, from AHB to mites to pesticides to
regulation, and research will need to be done if these problems are going to
be solved.  But let me ask the fundamental question none of you have asked,
 "What business does the government have in funding research for a private
industry"? If the beekeeeping industry needs government money for research to
solve
it's problems, then so does every industry.  Every industry has it's needs.
Should the government fund research on apple trees, corn, soybean, lettuce,
or every other crop anyone grows for a living?  Each has it's own specific
problems it is trying to solve.  What about the non-agriculture businesses.
The glass industry, the paint industry, the steel industry, the fishing
industry, the automobile industry, the list is in the thousands.  Should the
government fund research for every industry in the country?  If so, how could
we afford it?  And if not, why does beekeeping rate and the others don't?
 
   I won't flame you; you raise some good points, and I am  inclined to agree
with you on philosophical grounds. But you are missing a couple of very
relevant input points.
 
   Agriculture in general, and beekeeping in specific, have not shared in the
benefits of modern America in true proportion to the contribution they make.
I have watched my father struggle and work hard all his life; he was a
top-notch farmer, and one of the most productive of all American workers.
 Today he has virtually nothing.
Dad had to carry the money lender, the farm implement dealer, the chemical
folks, the local machine shop, and a score of others, all of whom provided
*services* to *help* him, most of whom lived better than he did, and are
comfortably retired today.
 
   As a beekeeper, I can see that I am headed in the same direction, but it
is probably too late to change course.  My work is not valued by others; in
1989 the state poisoned my livestock to the extent of three years of my
productive life, to recover to somewhere near where I had been. No one in
authority has made any step toward justice; all are inclined to look the
other way, and cover their own butts.  If it matters, the poisoning was done
illegally, by a state agency, charged with protecting the environment, in the
form of a pesticide applied in violation of label directions.
 
   Your company and many others fund research in agriculture. I have no proble
m with that, as research is always needed.  But the purpose of that research
is oriented toward making ever bigger profits for your company.  Who funds
the needed research for items that cannot generate big profits?
 
   If I decide to plant ten acres of strawberries, I can go to my extension
office and get reams of information on plastic mulch, irrigations systems,
soil fumigation, pesticides, nursery stock, etc. There are folks making good
money off each of these, and extension is responsive to that. But any
information on pollination will be sparse, if available at all. (I am trying
to fill this info gap, myself, to some extent, but finding that it is very
expensive and difficult, even to do on a very small scale. I do not have the
resources of a large corporation, nor do I see any real hope of profit in
this; it is simply to do something that is needed).
 
   I won't embarrass you by asking you how much your endeavors reward you,
and compare it to my rewards for mine; just mention the possibility that
tunnel vision can work in alternate directions as well.
 
   The beekeeping industry is down for the count.  Many of my colleagues have
quit, and I may soon be forced to join them.  If beekeeping is a vital part of
 our nation's food supply, and it is very much in danger of being lost, is
this not a valid matter of public interest?
 
   If our steel industry is in trouble, or our automobile industry, etc., we
as a people have determined on occasion, that some form of emergency aid is
in the national interest.  Certainly beekeeping should have the same
treatment; unfortunately it is so poorly understood, that it may be too late
by the time awareness sets in.
 
   I have always been skeptical of doomsday prophets. But today I am
convinced that we will see famine in America (and probably other areas that
thought they were exempt, too), within the next decade or so.  I am not gloryi
ng or wallowing in this; I shrink from it, only recognizing it as the only
possible conclusion to trends I see operative today.
 
   Every year we have more parasites and fewer producers. There are those who
are capable, but content to let society support them; there are also those
who rake off rewards far in excess of their real contribution.  Too many
parasites kill the host.  Think about it.
 
   As I said, couldn't the producers be tossed a few crumbs?
 
[log in to unmask]        Dave Green
Dave's Pollination Service   &   Eastern Pollinator Newsletter
PO Box 1215, Hemingway, SC   29554