-----Original Message-----
From:   James Fischer [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Thursday, February 07, 2002 2:03 PM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: Closing of bee labs.

Hello Jiim and All,
Bob Harrison said:
> The closing of bee labs in part is coming from long
> term projections for a huge reduction in commercial
> beekeeping in the U.S. over the next ten years.

To reply to my own statement. When an industry reduces in size by 50-75% ( like commercial beekeeping) the government sees help furnished reduced by the same amount.
 I had a senator tell me he could not tell the difference in taste from foreign honey and U.S. honey. PEOPLE TRYING TO REDUCE FOOD BILLS AT THE SUPERMARKET WILL ALWAYS BY THE LOWEST PRICE HONEY (foreign) < MUSTARD< KETCHUP AND SO ON. If the low price brand tastes bad then they will move up to the next lowest price.  Also if you develop a taste for bad tasting honey then you never know what good honey tastes like
 I have stood and watched shoppers in grocery stores . Most ladies move through the store and already know which brand (are the lowest) they use and simply pluck and put in the cart. I have walked over and looked to see if the brand was the lowest price on the shelf and almost always is  with honey , mustard and ketchup.
Jiim wrote;
Cutting research funding makes the "prediction" of the death of US commercial beekeeping a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Research will help in many areas but in my opinion the problems facing the U.S .large  beekeeper can not be solved by research alone.   In Farming as Dr. Shilling pointed out  20% of farmers survived by increasing production 17 times.  If the average commercial beekeeper even averaged 100 pounds per hive which is a high figure after talking to my friends then the beekeeper would need to increase production by 17 times.  We all know that even doubling the honey production per hive to 200 pounds would be quite a feat when dealing with large numbers of hives. .
   As you and Dr. Shilling said *protectionism * will not work.in the long run.  We have fought expensive battles with dumping with China and Argentina. The next battle over low honey prices will be with Mexico (in my opinion) and by then China will be able to dump again.

Jiim wrote:
.Many of the problems recited by Dr. Shilling is nothing more than a list of clear and compelling reasons why MORE research funding is justified under the current circumstances.
Research is always money well spent in my opinion .
Jiim wrote:
Anyone who wants to declare beekeeping "dead" is ignoring a basic trait of man - given two rocks, man will bang them together just to see what happens.  After a while, man has an edged tool.  He them promptly starts to use that tool to make a better tool.
Hobby beekeeping will never be dead but the large U.S. beekeeper has serious problems.  The problems are known by all large beekeepers when they sit around a meeting  or restaurant table.  The solutions  all have come up with will still  not make the U.S. beekeeper able to compete in a world market place. Labor costs , fuel costs and the amount of expensive trucking involved are three big problems beside the low price for honey.
 In China the state supplies everything the beekeeper needs , including trucking and simply dumps the honey on the world market because the state owns everything.  Beekeeping in China is a simple way of life without the pressures of beekeeping in the U.S   In China you can ..produce 10 -11 pounds per hive and you still have got a job and in the beekeeping business.
Sincerely,
Bobb Harrison