> ... as I am commercial and one of the few that sell in bulk and in bulk I 
> have always had to bear the common price over the years or other as 
> offered.... So to me what you say makes sense! Am I in that odd ball 
> nitch? with bulk pricing,Yes. So what does it say of market and wanting to 
> do it right for the bees? Cannot have it both ways and go on now can we.

I thought you were saying some time back that you were getting about five 
times the going rate in bulk, but that 9/11 ended that.  At any rate I don't 
know what your production is, but your operation is, by all accounts, an 
unusual case, and I think it is fair to say that few, if any commercial 
beekeepers would actually class you as a commercial.  You are very much in a 
class of your own.  IMO, anyhow.

> I do know that clean sustainable beekeeping must become mainstream again 
> for industry to survive the long haul.

I have to agree, at least for it to grow and prosper.  The part driven by 
pollination money can make many unhealthy compromises for a long time and 
still keep going somehow -- unless the price of almonds craters, which it 
must someday.

> So questions to you in final is will it still be called organic once 
> mainstream is reached?

Good question.  I think so.  The idea, in name at least, has gone 
mainstream, and national organic food distributors (oxymoron anyone?) are 
fast-growing businesses with great prospects on the stock market, last I 
looked.  When Wal-Mart goes organic, which it is, then what are we to think?

> Then being mainstream will all the certs and fees be necessary when other 
> with treatments one would think for human health reasons should be watched 
> more and to me then become the cert and fees one to keep control over.

This has been coming a long time.  With big buyers and fancy labs that can 
spot a few stray molecules in a swimming pool, and circling lawyers, all the 
big suppliers, including beekeepers will have to increasingly clean up their 
act.  Interestingly, though, the small, local guys are not nearly as well 
monitored, and buying local at the market is a matter of trust. 

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