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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
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Tue, 13 Aug 2019 08:02:52 -0400
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> has modern beekeeping itself become a victim of its own success?

Honestly, this is not new. In the late 1800s, beekeeping was in its heyday, beekeepers were among the most successful members of the community. Then mechanization of agricultural occurred and so much honey was being produced that the price collapsed. The two world wars drove prices back up and the number of hives in the US doubled, to six million. 

After WWII -- it was back to business, honey prices fell, and pollination gradually became a significant income source for beekeepers. Honey prices have had peaks and valleys ever since. When prices are high, beekeepers prosper -- at other times, many quit. The most lucrative portion of the industry has always been the sale of bees to other beekeepers. And not just to amateurs. There may be a million amateur beekeepers in the US but they don't buy the bulk of the bees sold. 

But more to the point, fortunes rise and fall on market demands. This year I had the best July harvest I have ever had (in terms of pounds per hive) and the fall harvest could be just as good. The wholesale price of honey is good and demand for local honey is strong. Too bad I only run 20 hives! 

Statistics show clearly that colony numbers in the US are steady, at about the same numbers as 100 years ago. Globally, colony numbers have been rising for decades. Canadian beekeepers took a hit when the border closed and they could no longer buy bees from California to replenish stocks, but they have gotten to be much better beekeepers and numbers rebounded. Huge crops of honey are made from canola (Brassica napus) -- which is GMO and neonic treated. 

Look, it is easy to criticize and blame. If people want to make a case that the world is going to hell in a hand basket, that is easy to do. It's also easier to blame somebody else than to make significant changes to oneself. The problem is, simply changing oneself is not very satisfying, so people go on crusades, thinking "if more people would do things my way, the world would be better off." 

I have been doing bkpg since 1974. It was very hard work then and it still is. People looking for an easy job would be advised to go somewhere else. Anyone who suggest that beekeeping can be made easy, is nuts. It can be made more efficient, more profitable, less discouraging. But not by people who have no real understanding of it. 

PLB

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