Glenn,  you make some great points!

These are just my thoughts,  I have discussed them with friends many times, and would also love answers,  but please,  I hope no one attempts to take offense or read between the lines!

You asked about how do you decide?  That is a basic problem here as beekeepers seeking knowledge.   Our guidelines are quite literally 100 year old books,  that I personally find, very disturbing.  As an AG group we collectively are the biggest bunch of antiquated hicks one could imagine. Quite literally we still do many things cause "grandpa did it that way"    AGAIN,  don’t take offense,  but  ponder what I am trying to get across.

If you look at any other AG sector  they have standards, and goals  and increase in production,  Things like the FFA  and writings like modern farming,  not to mention university level AG degrees are pretty much required for a farm loan these days,  Companies Like CNH and Deere fight it out for progress,  Dekalb and Pioneer fight tooth and nail for gains,  Monsanto and Bayer (before the merge) kept raising the bar in crop farming.   Beef industry is similar  Real goals and benchmarks. Same with any other AG group,  even fish farming!  Blueberries, Almonds  etc...(See what CAB has done for almonds, or the soybean check off)

Beekeeping is a dying art.  95% are simply hobby people (NO OFFENSE INTENDED) and most of the pros left, are A. inarticulate in the industry, and B. too busy to engage, and C. poo pohed by the many.  As a result,  we are as I see it left adrift and failing fast.   Some Like Randy have worked tirelessly to change that.  Testing old theories and writing,  but hes one guy  we need 50 more like him.   Groups Like EAS and Professor Bromenshenk UM classes may help that.(there are others)  I see some of the tide changing  so I am a bit optimistic.

In the mean time,  our industry leaders  which are Bee Culture and ABJ  are not much help.  The editors struggle with content to keep readers engaged,  and as a result some  IMO  very dicey articles get published.  For example,  one recently had a "unnamed author"  who turned out to be Michelle Colplay write an article on how Neonics  not Varro was the real issue.  A environmentalist with 2 hives and an agenda giving bee advice?  Then it was followed by Ross Conrads 5 part miniseries about the giant conspiracy theory behind neonics,  topped of this month with another  "its not the mites" article.  I struggle very hard with "write a rebuttal" or "cancel my subscription"  if there were more hours in the day!  Point being there is no leadership direction from our editors.  Not even a goal of presenting both sides.

So yes,  I appreciate and understand your confusion, and I have no real answers.  The high percentage of hobby people with ZERO knowledge in AG are being manipulated into believing commercial beeks are bad,  Pesticides are ruining the world, and treating your bees is evil.  Our major magazines and bee clubs are bending to this whim,  as our honey imports continue to rise.

We have hundreds of bee clubs,  where the local experts( which are great) try to help.  But that leads to hundreds of different theories and goals.  Some groups like EAS and HAS try to pull it all tighter,  but its defiantly herding cats.  One of our locals here  has 2 ladies that run it who have bought into the whole TF plan and are selling their own "local stock" and as a result will not let a very well know bee breeder who volunterred to speak, have a word.  These types of scenes are played out all over,  and newbies pay the steepest price.
  
If someone like SP came out with an article about not treating for pinkeye (in cattle) so natural restiance would take effect,  he would be completely ignored and considered a pariah. Here in the bee industry,  he has a cult following.  How do you sort that out?  I don’t know.

Then you have guys like Jim ( I pick on him out of respect for his ability to handle it)  who wax eloquently on topics they are clueless about (see the following roundup debate)  but many  he provided links and all to support his theory.

There lies the viewpoint where I differ from Pete,  all the papers  and research supporting it!  Must be right,  but in the real world that research is just wrong.  Born out again and again.  So it muddies the water even more. (again not bashing research papers)  Pete and I had  quite a debate last year about planting cells,  Works were cited,  words exchanged.  Pete cited research,  I cited people doing it. In the end  I suspect not many were convinced one way or the other! 

In fairness as a friend of mine mentioned while we talked about this today,  personal paradigms then play into it.  For example Jim hates Roundup.  I am never going to get him to consider its merits,  and he is never going to get me to understand how living in NYC has any up side....but we can still discuss it, and hopefully you can make up your own mind.


I have no answer,  as a group,  we have some of the best and the brightest,  as well as the most uniformed and biased....  no easy answer.

I will however make 2 recommendations,  one UM online beek program.  Professor Bromenshenk makes it a point to help teach you how to find those answers.

And  personal note,  on the Neonic issue you mentioned. Understand no one likes pesticide,  and Neonics are BAD for bees.  The part the extremist won't tell you is the exposure pathways are 1000% times better than the old pesticide,  while neonics usage is up,  what Ross won't tell you is OP has disappeared..........  
There is an old ad for Pace Salsa I think,  something to the effect  "what kind of Salsa comes from NYC?"   Don’t take farming advise from someone who lives in an apartment,  or upstate Vermont.........

Charles

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