> ...the summer 2006 newsletter from the MN Honey Producers Association.
> The president  had a 2 page description of his experience successfully
> lobbying the state legislature for the repeal of the apiary statute.

> "With the repeal of the apiary statute, the Mn Dept Ag will no longer
> conduct routine apiary inspections, distribute newsletters, nor maintain
> a publicly available database of apiary locations"

A classic self-inflicted shotgun wound to the foot.

Astute readers will recall that the MN State Supreme Court ruled in
2005 that any landowner who KNOWS that honey bees are foraging on his
property must exercise reasonable care in the application of pesticides.

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/news/daily_news_archive/2005/08_03_05.htm
http://www.olemiss.edu/orgs/SGLC/National/SandBar/4.1bees.htm

If there will be no database in the future, landowners can claim that they
had no way to even know if there were any beekeepers anywhere near their land,
and can (once again, as they always seem to do) claim that they did not see
any honey bees flying around on the land at issue prior to pesticide
application.

As an aside there seems to be a very disturbing direct correlation between
pesticide
application and very poor vision, something that prompts latent concern about
the
risks posed by handling pesticides on the health of the applicator.  :)

So, while MN beekeepers have a clear and compelling legal ruling to protect
their bees, it has been eviscerated by a group of "Honey Producers" who
apparently don't want their hives inspected.

> During 2005, 62 colonies were found by MDA inspections to contain
> small hive beetle...  All of these colonies were from migratory
> commercial beekeepers.

It seems that these businessmen want to externalize the risk and costs
inherent in a migratory operation on other beekeepers while, of course,
internalizing their profits.  I wish I could say that I was "shocked,
shocked" at this.

This is what happens when unmitigated avarice puts on a suit and tie,
fraudulently pretending to represent "all beekeepers".  Short-term
greed creates scorched earth for everyone, and after a period of time,
there are no pest-free areas.

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