-----Original Message-----
From:   Thomas Cornick [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Thursday, February 07, 2002 8:18 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: Closing of bee labs.

Hello Thomas and All,
Thomas wrote;
When the American public is confronted with a $5 apple perhaps the approach to bee labs and beekeeping will change. The value of bees is in pollination not honey.
As a Apple grower and seller I feel compeled to comment. The American public will NEVER see the $5 Apple because  we live in a world market. This year the wholesale price for a bushel of Apples was around $3 a bushel. But Apples in grocery stores sold most of the time for .99 per pound. I CAN  get grocery store prices at Farmers markets but volume can not be moved. The commercial Apple orchards in our area have dropped from 17 orchards to five if all open this spring. 
As I posted earlier three bee farms have went out of business this year in Missouri and one is on the way out. One farm had been in business since 1926, one since 1945 and the other for over 25  years. All commercial beekeepers. The reasons stated by the out of business beekeepers when asked by me:
1.  mite problems
tracheal mite  At first 50% looses
varroa   at first- 50% to 95% losses
chemical resistance (Apistan)- 50% losses until coumaphos section 18
expected Coumaphos resistance coming with no legal solution and Ipm to labor intense plus results to undependable *at presant time*
2. low honey prices  on bulk honey from foreign competiton
3. New lower prices needed to be competitive in the grocery stores AND slow honey sales.

Regardless of what people say honey is selling slow in stores and overall shelf space is dropping to a few feet in many stores. Many grocery stores will not carry creamed honey as the sales are to slow to keep shelf space. *Chain* Grocery stores expect a certain amount of return for each foot of shelf space. When the return does not come in then the honey space is given to a product which will produce the return. The low price honey on the shelf is ALWAYS the best seller and NEVER in danger of losing it's shelf space. The *low price honey* is almost always from another country. It is TRUE that selling your honey yourself is better than selling bulk most of the time but when wholesale bulk honey is at the price it is (but will not stay) today selling in stores is a break even deal for those buying honey on the open market for .75 per pound and selling 1 pound jars to the grocery stores for 1.25 per jar. I got a call after I returned  from Savannah from a store which their honey supplier had went bankrupt. She said the beekeeper had been selling 1 pound jars for 1.25 and would I do the same. She was not happy with the quote I gave her. If you turn to the honey market information in ABJ or Bee Culture and look at the low price for wholesale one pound  jars you will see the low price IS in the 1.25 to 1.30 U.S. price range. For case of 24 jars.  Why sell in grocery stores George says.? Because .probably the one most common thing we do besides look at each other while we pump gas in our cars is go to grocery stores. Approx. 99% of people  in the U.S. shops in a grocery store every week.
Now I know George Imirie gets several dollars a pound for his honey as he has posted on Bee-l which is great but George is not moving the amount of honey the three bankrupt bee farms in Missouri were moving. Niche markets ARE best but limited.
Most beekeepers are private people and handle what ever cards they are dealt quietly. Please be aware the American Honey producer is having trouble making ends meet.
Sincerely,
Bob Harrison