> Makes beekeepers easy prey for those wishing to get their way. The higher
> ups in the California USDA say the beekeepers lack organization. The Almond
> board made a similar statement.
> Until a "John Wayne" steps from the crowd which can not be bought off and
> is not scared by the industry the others will cave in to Paramount citrus.
Even a "John Wayne" type would have little impact.
The problem is that there is always a sufficient
number of desperate beekeepers who are more than
happy to take what business they can, at whatever
price is offered, under whatever terms are offered.
Sure, it would be great if we could form some sort
of a "guild" or "union" without running afoul of the
anti-trust regulations, but even if such a bargaining
unit were formed, there would still be more than
enough undercapitalized, cash-starved, desperate
beekeepers who would happily take what business they
can, at whatever price is offered, under whatever terms
are offered.
Sure it makes me sad to see how easy it is for growers
to play one beekeeper off against another, and see
beekeepers engage in a "race to the bottom" in their
desperation to service their debt and pay their
expenses. The growers simply have more information
than the beekeepers, and the beekeepers don't share
much of any information, as they all see each other as
competitors.
Simply reporting (truthfully) the offers one gets, and
the offers one accepts into a centralized database
would be a powerful tool for beekeepers, one that might
reverse the entire "market power structure" for pollination.
I don't understand why this remains undone, given that there
are several such reporting schemes for honey prices.
(The Honey Hotline, Bee Culture, and ABJ are the best-known.)
Exploiting markets is simply a matter of having more
information than others. As long as beekeepers don't know
what offers are made to other beekeepers, they will be
victims of whatever games growers want to impose upon them.
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---
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