Richard Drutchas wrote:
> Lastly, Vince wrote,"packing your honey or even selling it direct does
> not increase the value of your crop. The extra income is due to the
> increased value your additional labor has added". Vince, if this is true
> how come the retail price in my area anyway hasn't dropped along with
> the barrel prices? The big packers obviously are taking care of
> themselves.
 
        If the market price of honey in the barrel is, as an example, $0.75/lb
and you pack that honey in jars and get, lets say $0.85/lb after
material and labor expenses, you net $0.10/lb profit. But that profit is
the result of you effort to bottle and market that honey, the honey is
still worth only $0.75/lb. Right now I am not set up to pack, I
wholesale it in barrels. I could invest in packing equipment and more
floor space and spend time selling and delivering and I probably would
make more money. But my point is that the honey I produced is still
worth whatever he market says it is.
 
 
The big question now is how can the producers get the price up to where
it should be and can a promotion board run by both packers and producers
have the best interest of both in mind.
 
 
        Again, we are price takers not setters. We've had the NHB for years now
and they have succeeded to increase demand. They have helped create new
markets and new products. But here we are still taking prices barely
over 1980 prices. Honey was then supported at $0.67/lb. Some may argue
that price was artificially high but pakers paid it and honey was only
$1.09 on the shelf. Have we done anything to raise the price? I don't
think so. Can we do anything? I think we should try. Will the packers
help? The packers make there living on the difference of the price they
pay for honey and the price they sell it for. They will help keep that
difference as great as possible. Can you blame them?