At 06:29 PM 11/25/98 -0500, you wrote:
 
Hi Christopher, and Bee Friends,
 
>Please explain to somebody not from the USA what the USDA honey loan program
>is.  Is it in effect a Government subsidy to US beekeepers?
 
Not to worry it is NOT a subsidy, what it is,  a for one year Honey Loan
Program on the 1998 crop, the producer pays interest and costs. The loan is
for 9 months and the honey can not be forfeited. If the producer defaults
on the loan it will be sold and any balance owed the government must be
paid out of pocket. The loan is based on $0.5287 per pound US$ and the
interest is 5.875%. I believe that maximum amount of any one person can
borrow to be $100,000.00 but don't quote me on that as it could be 2x that.
 
>You already have it cushy, getting sugar at World prices instead of paying
inflated European
>Community prices as we have to.
 
Beekeepers do NOT buy sugar at world price which is raw sugar anyway and
some times higher then domestic contract. World sugar is un contracted or
unsold sugar and does not always reflect the domestic or real price. Most
beekeepers pay about $25.00+ per hundred pounds the same as anyone in the
US. Large users get better prices and many do not use "sugar" but HF Corn
syrup or a blend depending on the costs at the time of purchase. There are
no productions restrictions on corn syrup as they were wise enough to not
call their products "sugar" even if they are the same or at least used the
same and have replaced a large part of the domestic industrial market
putting many sugar growers and refiners out of business for ever.
 
>Perhaps we should complain of unfair competition.
 
If you do you better check your own Honey Tariffs and other restrictions.
Some governments which I will not name. treat all imported honey as if it
contained Mad Cow inoculate and use health laws in place of taxes to keep
honey from competition with their own brand of honey. Some of these
countries even are honey export partners of the US and Europe but "free
trade" is NOT the same as "fair trade". They feel free to trade with us
when the price is right and see it as fair to product their own producers
by hook or crook at all times. Other countries allow their citizens to
subvert the rule of law outside their country such as importing millions of
pounds of honey they have no use for into one country and reshipping it to
another who have laws preventing the honey from the first country from
being imported.
 
>How much honey does the US import from Europe?
 
Not much honey in bulk today is imported from Europe as few in Europe would
want to sell it at today's prices here in the US. If you know of anyone who
is willing to pay the freight and thinks .50- .60 cents per pound is a good
deal have them see a head doctor as they may need a brain transplant.
 
The US does import some honey from Europe mostly in consumer containers and
its sold in speciality or high scale markets in the bigger cities. You know
like $5.00- $10.00 per pound for good English Heather or Spanish Orange
that so many beekeepers get rich on in their own home land, right.
 
>The trouble with governments is that they invariably interfere in
>the way I don't want them to and don't interfere in the way I do want them
to.
 
If I was a US beekeeper I would not count on much if any government help
unless we want to pay more taxes ourselves as beekeepers to fiance it, and
most beekeepers feel like the rest of us in the Republic and that is we are
working to much now to pay our taxes which by some measurements are at 50%
of our net now.
 
ttul, the OLd Drone
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