Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | |
Date: | Sun, 12 Jul 2015 09:52:19 -0500 |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
Thanks for the kind comments. Rumors about 1) my contributions and 2)
my retirement are somewhat exaggerated. Regarding the first, more
than anything, I have been extremely fortunate in somehow being
involved in a number of burning topics through three decades (closer
to four if you count when I was given my first colony for a birthday
by my parents). These opportunities have allowed interaction/
cooperation with a good number of smart and decent people (in most
cases) in many different settings. With respect to the second point,
even though I finished 30 years with ARS recently, some form of
involvement with topics, people and dialogue surrounding the still
fascinating topic of honey bees and beekeeping remains a good option
for the future.
Back to the topic at hand. Very bluntly, it is a question of balance
between the economic benefit of adoption and the costs of the new
"technology". In a number of cases there have been obvious subsidies
to defray the costs: publicly funded selection and maintenance
programs (in larger countries dominated by commercial beekeeping) or
passion inspired volunteer programs (countries with mostly
hobbyists). Clearly many breeding programs have had minimal impact
and adoption. Hygienic bees for control of AFB and chalkbrood would
not be a "game changer" (in the current bureaucratic parlance) for
Australia. At the other end of the spectrum, Australia is now
considering preemptively importing, selecting and testing some form of
varroa resistant material. Historically, the reported replacements of
native or invasive "subspecies" with presumably better bees in a
number of situations is perhaps a clear example of how when there is a
need, the will and a procedure, change does happen. And yet, even in
the same continent (compare Germany with Spain right now), or even the
same country (compare the southern irrigated areas of Israel with the
greener northern areas close to the Lebanese border, at least in the
1980s) change has not been uniform.
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
|
|