Blane White wrote:

> AFB rates in MN are running somewhat lower than in NY and even ME.

Most of the data from Maine includes the 60,000 hives from out of state,
so we are probably a good reflection of the state of commercial
migratory pollinators compared to in-state beekeepers.

Best guess is some 4-600 or so beekeepers in the entire State. Might be
more or less since not all register their bees and many of the old
timers are out of the business.

You can count the number of in-State large, commercial operations on one
hand and have fingers left over. In fact, several "home based" Maine
operations actually are more Florida than Maine since they move the bees
south to overwinter and come up with the rest of the blueberry pollinators.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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