hello Mike & All,
Thanks for the post!
I agree with your opinion and will add a few comments.

1. How have honey yields changed over the years? Several organizations try
to track honey harvests

> Having said that, there is a significant competitive advantage to
> disguising or even lying about your numbers. And several of the collection
> methodologies are susceptible to skewing when a large-scale producer puts
> honey into inventory for a year.

Has been going on since beekeeping began. Same with hive numbers. Hobby
beekeepers are usually truthful but large beekeepers not *in my opinion*
truthful about real hive numbers or honey produced.

2. What's the data on colony losses over the past two decades? Nobody knows
and anybody saying differently is trying to sell you something.

I love when beekeepers other than myself share the truth on the list. Word
through the grapevine was beekeepers were going to receive around a $100 for
every dead hive if they filled out the CCD survey.
My local USDA office was saying $100-150. I knew was not going to happen.
Sure brought out the survey numbers.

I will say from personal conversation annual hive loss went up around the
start of CCD and has never went back to pre CCD levels. CCD should have been
called "Hive Dwindling Disease".

All the large operators I speak with privately report dwindling problems.

Empty boxes.

I really can not explain the cause. Only report what I see and hear. You can 
take your pick of reasons but proof as too which is the cause has never been 
proved.

The best part of beekeeping is the ability to split hives to regain numbers.
An orchard grower loses half his trees how many years to get back into
production. If a rancher losses his brood cows how many long to get back? As
long as a beekeeper can maintain is base then he can bounce back.

5. How powerful are the chemical (pesticide) lobbies, in comparison to the
government? The question poses a false dichotomy. Pesticide lobbies are
exactly as powerful as their respective governments allow them to be.

I highly recommend the current History channel series:
"The Men Who built America"
(I have recorded and have watched several times!)

Governments are slow to try and rein in powerful people and corporations.
History shows poor results.

I have met a few of those "Men Who Built America" types in beekeeping but
could count the number on one hand. If you watch the series you will see
over and  those great men were visionaries and risk takers.
I liked the series as the series shows these men over and over in deep
thought. Many CEO's from fortune 500 companies add their input to the
series.

>More than that, they are generally aligned in their goals.

Similar causes make strange bedfellows!

> My own cynical opinion is that the government then ignores all of us
> equally.

I see government today way too big and trying to control everything. tell us
what we can eat (Bloomberg New York) or mail thick books of new regulations
to almost every industry. I looked over the new homeland security food
regulations for honey packers. You can't even keep a broom or mop with a
wood handle in the place. Clorox under lock and key.

Those in the U.S. wanting to sell your honey in stores should take a look at
the regulations. If government gets bigger & bigger then eventually
government will be knocking on your door!

Another subject:
I will say if I had commented on "beekeeping economics thread" I would have
said the approach my self and associates used was buying up every failed
commercial outfit . A close friend has his office walls decorated with
branded hive frame tops of outfits he has purchased over many decades. No
two frames has the same brand. I have a folder with brand names I have
purchased.
Personally we cleaned up many messes but always made money.
When money was to be made we expanded when times were tough we contracted
operations and stored equipment.
A VERY different approach then most of the industry used.

Taking over other operations is the way to move up quickly. having a plan
A,B,C,D, and so on makes things run smoothly. Always looking to the future.
5-10 years in advance.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
semi- retired beekeeper

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