Hi all
On another related thread, one thing I see in so many of these so-called studies is that they commence with a bundle of assumptions which are often false to begin with. This is a fatal flaw in any argument. No matter how much support you can muster for your case, if it rests on false floor, it collapses.

For example, you hear about CCD and 30% losses. I saw a poster by a student where she had carefully graphed the decline of honey bees due to CCD. The numbers went from 2.5 million hives, losing 30% a year and in a few years, she was already down to 900,000. The poor young lady apparently didn't realize the numbers are being made back up every year.

I always tell people they should double every summer. That means if you have 100 hives, lose 30, double to 170 and lose 30% of that, you are back to 100 where you started. But beyond that, operations that sell bees often sell off almost 90% of their bees in spring, and build the whole thing back.

People that write about beekeeping should at least know the rudiments before they predict things like "the end of pollination". The pollination business is driven by supply and demand, as we know. If there is a demand for a product, someone will figure out how to provide it. 

PLB

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