> Is Monsanto going to distribute to commercial beekeepers their virus solution free of charge to "save the bees" or another $150 a gallon HBH situation?

No, and why should they? I sell honey, try to get a good price. I don't aim for the highest possible price, but I don't give it away.

Beekeepers are not entitled to government support any more than turnip growers. You pick a career and you try to make it work or do something else. Frankly, the whole litany of a "world without bees" is tiresome. Sure, we need to protect bees and the environment, but bees are the litmus test of the environment. 

The point is, a world that's bad for bees is bad for the rest of us too. The whole "save the bees" thing has gotten us narrowly focused and turned us into a special interest group. Rather than trying to get people to spend money on us, we should be looking at the big picture, which is a world which is not wrecked by pesticides, industrial by-products, and pollution.

Sorry, but the world does not depend on bees. They are an integral part of it, and one that none of us would wish to lose, but the whole of nature doesn't mourn the loss of a part. 

"Life goes on within you and without you" -- George Harrison

PLB

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