Discussions about how to differentiate one's honey in order to enjoy higher prices, and the sad state of affairs when unable to do so, always remind me of an article in Harvard Business Review( 'HBR') about 20 years ago. The authors of the HBR article made a study of commodity pricing over the past 200 years and covered commodities such as copper, gold, tea, coffee, sugar, wheat, oil, etc. Their thesis was that various price-controlling schemes (think OPEC) often worked well in the short term but invariably failed in the long term. Further, they maintained, the long term prices of all commodities were determined by the lowest cost producer, who invariably set prices at just above cost. Any technological advantages held by higher cost producers were of nil benefit to UNLESS IT RESULTED IN THEM BEING THE LOWER COST PRODUCER. An example demonstrating the effect of this thesis is what has happened to diamond prices, where for years a cartel set prices artificially high, and the cartel fell apart when ample supplies of diamonds were discovered in Russia and Australia. Presumably, the authors would argue that in the long term OPEC's efforts to maintain artificially high prices will fail. While there has been some signs of such pending failure, political considerations (not supply and demand for oil) have kept OPEC alive and well. For honey, I believe that operations such as Adee's are doomed to forever sell at the prices set by the lowest cost producer; currently China. However, some beekeepers, such as Mike Rowbottom, take steps to effective remove their products from the commodity labeled as 'honey' and sell it as another product...such as, 'Honey from HARROWGATE'. Obviously (to those of us in the US) 'Honey from North Dakota', just does not do the same job, so the Adee's and those of a similar ilk are in a tough position. Equally obvious, the National Honey Board's initiative to remove honey from a commodity status by labeling it by floral source was of little interest to the Adee's of the world and was thus doomed to failure. (Since the very existence of the NHB was dependent on votes based on the *pounds*, and not the value, of honey.) But there is no rule saying that high cost commodity producers cannot whine... Enjoy your holidays! Lloyd -- Lloyd Spear Owner Ross Rounds, Inc. Manufacture of equipment for round comb honey sections, Sundance Pollen Traps, and producer of Sundance custom labels. Contact your dealer or www.RossRounds.com <http://www.rossrounds.com/> ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************