Peter writes concerning Mexican bees:
> The trend is away from introducing new pests, in any case.

I do not see how the above applies to Mexico. We have a southern land border
and swarms of bees from both Mexico and the U.S. cross daily each way. It is
impossible to stop the migration.
Politics enter the discussion concerning using Mexican hives in almonds more
than fears of other issues.
The most logical place to get complete hives has ALWAYS been Mexico.

The most logical place to open up the closed border policy in the U.S. which
had been in effect since the roaring twenties was Australia. Bees free from
mites with a strict inspection service.

The door is still partially open. Canada beekeeping did not end (as many
said it would when the border to Australia opened years ago) because of the
decades of imported packages and queens. The U.S. industry was not hurt by
our Aussie import! My Aussie bees looked great when I checked yesterday!

Unlike the
roaring twenties now we have WTO agreements and NAFTA ( called Shaft a by
Teamsters!) in place.

My beekeeping experience spans fifty years and I would bet money that no
virus or pathogen found in Mexican bees is not found in U.S. bees.

Politics might keep the border closed for awhile but reality combined with a
huge shortage in the number of hives needed in the U.S. for pollination will
in time open the border . Think of the U.S. agriculture jobs lost when
certain parts of agriculture stops growing many crops. Tens of thousands
losing jobs and dependence on other countries for many crops!

People willing to do commercial beekeeping are very rare. Simply not enough
money involved and the work is back breaking manual work. Hard to find help
for obvious reasons.
 Nope! The numbers of commercial beekeepers in the U.S. will continue its
decline and hives needed for the nations pollination will increase. New
orchards and fields are being planted all the time.

According to Weaver's web site:

> Slow paralysis virus (SPV) was reported to have been detected in
> Australia, and no SPV has been found in the US. USDA failed to consider
> that only a handful of colonies from few parts of the US have even been
> tested for SPV, so no one can say whether it is present in the US or not,
> that Australian scientists claim that the SPV find used an obsolete method
> and was probably a false positive detection, and SPV has not been
> associated with adverse effects on colony health in Australia. To
> reinforce that point - at a scientific conference in Europe is was
> revealed that SPV has not been associated with any unexplained or unusual
> colony mortality in Europe, so the risk associated with that virus is
> minimal.

Politics has closed the import for now not SPV. The effort has been going on
for a few years.

For the most part U.S. commercial beekeepers are content with their share of
the *right now* market. Few have plans to enlarge their operations (personal
conversations).  Four commercial operations in my area have closed their
doors in the last decade and another will next spring leaving only two left.

Dennis Potts ( Dakota beekeeper) has downsized by half as the numbers he
grew to thinking about the gold in California was too hard to maintain. Many
have said that with 50% yearly losses its tough to simply maintain the
numbers of the past let alone expand to a higher level.

The Bell operation is the only operation I know of *seriously* expanding 
hive
numbers *but* running a fourth of the numbers ran before the owner became a
sideline beekeeper.

bob

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