Stan Sandler said "When I was with Juanse in Chile, we visited a commercial
beekeeper who did
NO honey.  He pollinated avocado and collected pollen for sale to a place
where they raised bumblebees for pollination units."

In the past few years the use of bumble bees for commercial pollination has
simply exploded from use largely in greenhouses to extensive use for all
kinds of outdoor crops, even including apples.  AFAIK the US market is
dominated by Koppert, www.koppert.com.  For awhile their production of
bumblebees was restricted by pollen supply, but they then purchased
Sundance traps to distribute to beekeepers willing to contract for pollen
collection and principally solved that problem.  From what I am told this
can be a good income supply to beekeepers located in areas with good pollen
supply.  Interested persons should contact Koppert directly.

Lloyd

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm