Hi Tim & All,

> What other kind of agriculture demands this?
>

I do not know but really I was talking bees not all of agriculture. It is
not unheard of for people to breed their own stock whether it be animal or
plant.

Another point is that with a re-queening the old queen is usually tossed
when at the very least a great candidate for varroa tolerance could be sent
to your favorite breeder so its genetics can be utilized in your breeders
breeding program. There are lots of ways for all beekeepers to help in the
breeding of a great varroa tolerant bee besides physically doing the
breeding themselves, although I think that more beekeepers should take an
active role in breeding bees. Most do not simply because they do not
understand the process of breeding bees and do not realize how simple it is
to rear and breed queens. Nearly all books on beekeeping suggest that a
beekeeper starts out with local bred bees, to maintain that a beekeeper
should continue breeding locally and not buying in from outside constantly
but only occasionally.

> Do you think corn growers
> should hybridize their own seeds, grow the corn, harvest and make the
> harvest into tortillas?
>

Sure, another great idea. Some growers already do this and others maintain
pure strains by open pollinating. Open pollinated vegetables are called
heirloom varieties, without these heirlooms hybridizing would be nearly
impossible. As an agricultural industry more individual breeding of stock
would only strengthen the industry with varieties.

 . ..   Keith Malone, Chugiak, Alaska USA, http://www.cer.org/,
c(((([ , Apiarian, http://takeoff.to/alaskahoney/,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akbeekeepers/ ,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Norlandbeekeepers/ ,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ApiarianBreedersGuild/

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