Bob

What are the fields and the forage like? I am not defending pesticides.  We use ZERO on our farm.  I simply have a whole lot more questions.

The honey comparison could be a combination of excellent pre-flow pollen and tree nectar sources with a main crop of alf-alfa, clover, and yellow trefoil.  The other hives could be located near nothing but acres of sweet corn and apple trees.

The testimonial does nothing other than provide another person who THINKS pesticides are an issue.  I am not saying they are or are not, just that "testimonials" prove nothing.

Around here, around the Cincinnati area honey production varies immensely an I think a person would be hard pressed to claim it was a result of pesticides.

I agree with you , more or less, on the honey issues, but I will also say that the China issue makes my product more valuable.  People are beating down my door for local honey and are paying a premium.  I am not too sure what the answer to that is.  If your business is pollination then honey is almost a nuisance.  I am building a business that produces honey for local demand.  I think there is PLENTY of opportunity for many a beekeeper to tap into that market and make good money without the hassles of having to transport bees, especially if its piggybacked onto other agricultural related businesses.  The current demand for local honey prevents non-local competition AND gives your product amazing value over the packers homogenized bland honey.   The problem is that the definition of commercial beekeepers needs to be redefined.  2000 colonies?  Try 100!  You can be grossing six digits with 300 colonies.  At 5.00 a pound average (or minimum) why would I want to worry about chasing pollination contracts in a system that is almost designed to provide as many hardships as possible for a commercial beekeeper?  The problem is...business as usual.

Nope, I do not think the sky is falling, its turning a different shade of blue.

Maybe Almond growers will start producing almonds in smaller farms spread out over a larger area interspaced with good forage and use California bees in static sites.  That is an option, and very inexpensive option.  Considering hay/forage prices in increasing drought stricken regions they could have multiple incomes sources to cover the cost of being less productive with the decrease in concentration.  In the end, regardless of your opinion of organic or conventional agriculture, the problem is monocrop style production.  Not so much that it cannot be done but that we have yet too find a way to sustainably manage such systems in a healthy way.  Something has to give and right now its the bees and water.  What we are seeing is the weakness of these systems as a single key component fails.

Just something to consider.

Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm
North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855

(513) 967-1106
http://www.carriagehousefarmllc.com
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