Thanks for the info, Bob.  Maybe you could venture opinions on the
following.

> Is the problem anything that doubling the pollination fee would not
> cure?
>
> If doubling the pollination fee would cause hives to be removed from
> June honey harvests in the Dakotas (150-200Lb.) and trucked over a
> thousand miles to pollinate those zero honey producing agriculture
> crops on which many times the bees need fed and rotated in an out
> then maybe will work. I would not hold my breath!

I'm not asking if an problem that took this long to build up can be solved
in an instant.  I'm asking if the colony numbers would recover, given time,
if the rewards were there.  I guesss what I am saying is that it took time
to get where we are now, and it will take time to get out of the hole.

I believe that the root problem is economic, and the other issues are direct
and indirect effects of insufficient profitability.   Basically the bee
business has been eating up its capital for the past two decades or more,
and we are now at the breaking point.   Sure some beekeepers are doing well
some of the time, but the trend is that fewer and fewer are doing well less
and less of the time.

Because of low prices, commercial beekeepers have had to increasingly cut
corners and many are marginal.  New talent is hard to attract, and  First
the most marginal operations have gone down, then the next and the next, and
now we are down to a remnant, and they are challenged to keep going.  The
recent honey price surge was helpful, but nobody who has been in the
business long expected it to last.  Some of us took it as our cue to exit.

What I am wondering is whether a doubling of pollination prices would bring
back the incentive to do whatever it takes to get and keep the the numbers
up.  I know that, in Canada, the only bright spot after the devistation
caused by border closure, followed by low prices and mite damage was
pollination.  The returns guaranteed by contract, and often advanced, by
seed companies brought Alberta beekeeping from a steady decline in numbers
to a steady increase.

Could such a scenario work in the US?  Could a large pollination co-op or
corporation mediate between growers and beekeepers and guarantee good
pollinators a decent and reliable return?  Would this bring back the
numbers?  If the US can put a man on the moon, can the US not also manage to
pollinate its crops?  Which job is tougher?

> > Seems to me that something is wrong here.  Are we as important as we
> > claim to be?
>
> The value of honeybees for pollination is well documented.

I wonder.  How much of that value we claim is actually provided by wind,
wild bees, flies and other insects?  Has anyone taken a really critical look
at this documantation?

> Allen asks:
> > Did any almond growers in California actually go without bees in the
> > end? (Anybody know?)
> >
> >Of course they did and many went with half the hives they wanted.

My understanding is that this is nothing new.  There are always some left
out in the cold, due to delays, thefts, accidents, floods, laziness,
stupidity, dishonesty, etc.  Is the situation much worse this year, or just
better described and more visible due to the media coverage?  Can anyone put
numbers to the shortage?  How much of the apparent increase is due to the
press seeking out and repeating isolated stories?

I understand that the growers are riding a high price and want more and
better bees, since the cost is much less than the benefit.  On average, was
the pollination accomplished much different than past years?

allen
A Beekeeper's Diary: http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::