> the realities of commercial beekeeping tend kill the silver bullet.

This has always been the dilemma.

We could have varroa tolerant bees tomorrow and reportedly have over the
years, but the realities of beekeeping make maintaining and marketing
them impossible.

This has been true of the various breeding programs over the years, long
before varroa, tracheal (remember tracheal), and AFB were the big issues.

We had the Birch Hills bees and other strains with desirable
characteristics, but maintaining them requires continuity of personnel,
isolation, and continued demand from the market.

Again and again such projects have been abandoned. The market values
varroa resistance low on the scale, below price, availability,
production, wintering...

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