Hi All,
 
ANDY NACHBAUR wrote:
> Beekeeping is a political incorrect endeavor in the United States today,
> and no one in California government is going to spend any money to
> investigate problems for such a unpopular group
 
Andy, I'm trying to figure out what you mean. Granted I don't live in the
most "PC" part of the country, but I do work in a university environment
which is seriously afflicted with the above condition. I've never heard
beekeeping characterized in the way you describe.  Perhaps you are using
politically incorrect in a more literal sense, i.e. the honey subsidy
smokescreen from the last election?  Surely the public isn't gullible
enough to bite on that one, even in California :). Where I live (North
Carolina) people can't really throw those stones while the tobacco subsidy
lives.
 
I hope this doesn't seem like a divergence from the theme of this forum,
but I'm genuinely interested in the problems facing commmercial
beekeepers. As a hobbyist, people often ask me questions about the
industry that I can't answer. I understand issues like overhead, profit
margins, imports, and introduced pests pretty well, but I frequently read
allusions to public and/or government prejudice against beekeepers. Is
this real or just a general complaint about the inability of govt to do
anything useful?  When I tell people I'm a beekeeper, the reaction is
almost universally positive. At worst, they think it's a little odd. Can
someone enlighten me here?
 
Rick Bodishbaugh