> To be sustainable, an agricultural enterprise must generate a return
> > on investment.
> >Surprising as that might be to you and me, I'll bet that basic fact is
> news or heresy to 75% of small time beekeepers, and that making a return on
> capital and labour or -- heaven forbid -- a profit is, if not sinful,
> somehow improper to many.
I was a child of the '60's, when it was considered sacrilegious to make a
profit at anything. This philosophy plagued me for most of my adult
life--I simply gave away my time and labor. I wound up with thousands of
favors owed to me, but by age 50 realized that if I didn't accumulate a bit
of wealth at some point, then I would then become a burden to society.
I see the motivation of many newbee beekeepers as wanting to "save the
world" by keeping a few hives of bees without treatments for varroa. This
is a very noble goal. Unfortunately, the majority see their colonies crash
after a year or two, flooding their neighbors with mites, and resulting in
them giving up in frustration on beekeeping as an enterprise.
Granted, there are a few who by dint of perseverence pull off keeping bees
without treatments of any kind, and my hat is off to them.
Unfortunately, they do not yet appear to have a "formula" that will work
for all, other than by using mite-resistant stock.
I have a longtime friend who has been a nationwide organic farming
guru/consultant for decades. He pointed out to me that there is a big
difference between profitable organic farming vs simply leaving your crops
to their own means.
It is the same with beekeeping. In some areas (Africanized areas, high
altitude, areas with exceptionally long winters), varroa is less of a
problem, and beekeepers have better success with treatment-free beekeeping.
In other areas, those such as Joe Waggle and Wyatt Mangum have selected for
survivor stock that manage varroa on their own. Again, these are success
stories for keeping bees. But the question then is whether their methods
give a large enough return on investment that their sons or daughters could
take over the business and make a living at it. If not, then what they are
doing does not meet the definition of "sustainable."
--
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com
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