>My utmost respect to the men and women making it happen,  and something
else to those who want to badmouth them.

It seems to be human nature that it is easier to run others down than to
demonstrate a successful model.  I go to great lengths when I write about
queen breeding to make the point that there is nothing inherently wrong
with bee stocks bred for production, so long as those bees are provided
with appropriate husbandry.  And my hat is also off to our commercial queen
producers.

However, as our world crowds with humans, and costs of animal husbandry
rise, plant and animal breeders are looking very carefully at the benefits
of using traditional locally adapted breeds.  These breeds may not be as
productive, but require fewer inputs to survive.

There is no one-bee-fits-all breed for all operations and ecoregions.  I
see a future in which commercial beekeepers and some beginners keep
domesticated production breeds (analogous to production livestock), while
others keep stocks locally adapted to various ecoregions.

Of course there will be difficulties in coexistence of such stocks in some
areas.  It's nearly impossible to maintain gentle stocks in some areas full
of Africanized drones.  And in other areas, imported domesticated stocks
may introgress their genes into the locally adapted feral population.

Clearly, as bee breeders, we have largely failed to produce stocks that
deal effectively with varroa parasitism without human aid.  I think that
it's finally time to start getting serious about this.

Beekeepers are inventive, and honey bees very adaptable.  And Nature always
bats last.  I suggest that we work with Her.
-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

             ***********************************************
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