Walter, I think you said it very well.  The only problem is the "NHB" is all
we have.  It would certainly be better to have something else, but the NHB
was established by an act of congress and as a matter of reality it exists
and we have to work with it.  In my opinion, the real problem is that the US
only produces 47% of the honey that is consumed.  If we were producing
80%-90% and honey were sitting in warehouses because it couldn't be sold it
would be another matter.
-----Original Message-----
From: Walter Patton <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Saturday, January 24, 1998 1:56 PM
Subject: NATIONAL HONEY BOARD IMHO
 
 
>        I have been a tiny/small producer & packer of Hawaii honey for the
past 5
>years. Some how the National Honey Board got my name a long time ago and
>started writing me. I quickly saw where they wanted me to send them one
>penny per lb. of honey that I bought from others and one penny per lb. of
>all the honey I produced and packed in excess of 6,000 lb. per year. I
>ignored the letters for a long time. Finally they NHB started calling me
>and talking  like the police and I finally asked just who in the hell they
>were and by what authority did they  threaten me.  The sweet sounding
>female voice on the other end said yes to my question if she could show up
>at my house with Federal marshals if I refused to participate. WELL I
>decided to cave in and play ball.
>        Since then I have been a real team player. I did and do have real
concerns
>for the expansion of their authority, powers and allowing  them to collect
>2 pennies on every lb. of honey from producers over 6,000 lb. Let me tell
>about my observations. The transaction reports are required for each and
>every transaction completed. No matter if you do several transactions with
>the same producer in one month you have to make one transaction report per
>transaction. They also want/require your final report for the year
>by January 15th. IRS gives us till April 15th. The NHB has busted me
>several times because I feel it is reasonable that if several TR are with
>the same producer that I should be able to list only his name and say "on
>file" for his address, city, zip, and phone number. No, NO, No, says the
>NHB compliance officer not even in the computer age.
>        What do they do? Lots of honey promotion specifically designed to
aid the
>mass marketing honey packer companies.  The national advertising is good
>and needed and it should promote 100 % USA honey and educate the public to
>read the sources of origin( interestingly the sources of origin does not
>have to be reflective of the % of honey for the listed countries, in other
>words if the sources of origin say US, China, Argentina the amount of US
>honey may be the smallest % of the honey) and look for a buy only 100 % USA
>honey. I was in Dallas at Thanksgiving and looked at the honey section in a
>major super market and they did not have any !00 % US honey. The other area
>that they NHB visibly do a lot of work is in the area of International
>foreign market promotions. I have sent honey to Paris, Germany, & the
>middle east. Sounds good and these efforts are mostly usable by the large
>packers. Now if the packers were only exporting US honey fine AND the
>amount of honey imported to the USA in outrageous. There are US bee keepers
>and more could be developed if a stronger price were being offered to US
>beekeepers for their honey. It is disgraceful not to be more supportive of
>US beekeepers with the huge demand for pollination. For US beekeepers to
>have to compete with the foreign producers and their fast and loose ways of
>operation. Just read the USDA reports on China and Argentina. Both have had
>dirty honey in the past. These 2 pennies that the NHB wants to collect will
>both be paid by the producers no matter what they say the producer will pay
>the TAX..
>        How in the wide , wide world could any allegedly beekeepers
organization
>support putting more packers and even foreign importers on the Board of
>Directors of the NHB is way beyond me. It approaches being amazing  that
>the NHB would not consist of a majority of producers real producers not
>producers representing packers. Better yet why not abolish the NHB and
>establish a marketing assessment collected by a 100 % beekeepers
>organization that would work relentlessly for US beekeepers. The United
>States of America is being traded away at an alarming pace.
>        BEEKEEPER UNITE we can not leave the beekeeping advocacy to quasi
>beekeeper associations. They have gotten too big and political in their
>approach . This is yet another area that independent bee keepers must
>address. Again like Certified Organic when the victimized independent
>beekeeper do nothing on this issue what will happen? Wheres the money?
>Packers. Packers want the NHB because it ends up be corporate subsidy to
>help the packers buy and sell more foreign honey and to brow beat US
>producers to be competitive with foreign producers.
>
>                                Best of Bees to all , Walter
>