Peter wrote,

> The general hypothesis has to be: high labour cost (closely
> associated with high GDP per capita) equals high operating cost per
> beehive leading to uneconomic beekeeping if income (mostly honey and
> pollination fees) does not increase to match.

The GDP is closely  tried to productivity.

Example, years ago where easy loaders were common place and now forklifts 
are.
Once where hand load extractors where common, now auto-loaders are.
All are faster and take no extra labor, many cases they take less.

   Once 5,000  hives outfits were large, now they're mid size.
My point is the data that you guys are referring to is not accurate, because 
allot of keepers do not fill out the census, county, state, ect.. report 
which leaves discrepancy in the numbers.
Just take a look at how many hives show up at the almonds this year, amazing 
how dollars (hive rents) brings these numbers up.

Keith Jarrett 

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