With the vote on the National Honey Board referendum going down to
a resounding defeat, it is time for some hard soul searching.   Only 30
% of the beekeepers voted for it.   Weighted according to honey, 51% of
the vote was for it. However, the majority of the honey-weighted votes
came from the packers.  Translation: the packers wanted the programs;
the beekeepers didn't. What happened?  Did everyone, as is so often true
in a democracy, simply vote in his or her true self interest.   Or, did
the beekeepers simply not understand what their true self interest
was.   Our current  American Beekeeper Federation president insisted in
a speech at the convention that: "Beekeepers need to be dragged kicking
and screaming into the twenty-first century."  The implication of his
statement is that the 70% of beekeepers who voted against the ammendment
simply were too backward and uninformed to vote in their
self-interest.    I doubt it!  Just as in our current national political
debacle, it is more likely that our leadership has failed to listen and
failed to lead.
       What happens next? As I understand it. the USDA will have another
vote to determine whether the Honey Board as it is now constitituted
should or should not be terminated. Because it is written into the
Board's charter that the Honey Board cannot promote American honey, the
beekeepers will almost certainly vote to terminate it. The national
leadership of the American Beekeeping Federation shoud  accept the
inevitabillity of this termination and begin again.
      The national leadership has an opportunity, as a consequence of
this democratic expression of opinion, to bring about about badly needed
change in our industry. But,
the old animosities and the injured egos will  have to be set aside for
the good of the industry.  Three steps need to be taken:

Step 1:  The current leadership of the American Bee Federation should
resign immediately.   The new leadership should immediately negotiate
with the American Honey Producers to join into one national beekeepers's
organization.

Step2: This new National organization should support wholeheartedly the
anti-dumping lawsuits against Argentina and China initiated by the Sioux
Honey Association and the American Honey Producers.

Step 3: Planning should begin as soon as possible  for a new Honey
Promotion Board  promoting American honey to take the place of the old
one when it is terminated.

Please feel free to  forward these suggestions and any suggestions you
might have to any beekeeper who you think may be interested.

Probably, most of you who are reading this will think it is "pie in the
sky" thinking and will never happen, but, who knows, maybe there is a
leader out there who will come to the fore and make it happen.

Bee forever optomistic

Bob Stevens