Just to help put the issue of not funding the bee labs
into perspective, here are some excepts from
the proposed USDA FY2003 budget.
It is interesting to note how small an amount of money
is needed to keep our bee labs open by contrasting
the amount with other, somewhat related programs
where much larger amounts are allocated.
The document is at:
www.usda.gov/agency/obpa/Budget-Summary/2003/2003budsum.htm
Total USDA FY2003 Budget $74.443 billion
Amount needed for the bee labs $ 4.6 million
Proposed 2003 Agricultural
Research Service budget $ 1.066 billion
(The bee labs are part of ARS)
Bioterrorism Preparedness $ 5.9 billion
(A good example of a successful
"bioterror attack" would be
cucumbers at $4 each due to
no pollination.)
Increased Food Security $ 462.1 million
(So they want to "protect"
food, but spend nothing to
insure that fruits and veggies
are pollinated in the first place.)
Budget increase for
plant/animal health monitoring $ 48 million
(Quick - name a animal in US
agriculture with more problems
than bees. If cattle farmers
were losing up to half their
herds every year, they would
call out the national guard!)
Budget increase for
protecting US agriculture
from attack by animal and
plant diseases, insects,
and other pests $ 34 million
(Why nothing for bees?
They are certainly under attack.)
CCC funds allocated to
combat unforeseen
outbreaks of pests and
diseases in 2001 $ 335 million
(I'd call varroa and hive beetles
"unforeseen", wouldn't you?
Tracheal mites are "unseen",
unless you have a microscope.)
But wait, that's not all... there are even some line items
that force one to ask if the USDA is wasting much more
money than the bee labs would need. I'm no expert in
running government agencies, but I do know quite a bit
about high-tech projects, and I'll tell you that a child of
12 can save at least 10% on any federally-funded
technology project by simply asking a few questions.
Some obvious examples are below.
From "Federal Computer Week" (and you thought beekeeping
magazines where an obscure type of publication!)
www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0204/web-usda-02-06-02.asp
USDA Overall Information Technology $1.6 billion
A 13% spending increase over 2002
Gosh, you'd think that with computer
and networking prices having gone down
so much, they would be able to show a
budget reduction in this area. My lab's
techno-toy "actuals" are 20% under the
projection, year to date, and bits, bytes,
and nanoseconds are our primary product.
USDA "Common Computing Environment" 2002 $ 59.4 million
USDA "Common Computing Environment" 2003 $133.2 million
The idea behind the "CCE" is to replace
just about every box smarter than a toaster
in every USDA office with a new one, and
network them with a brand new network.
This will allow farmers to apply for crop loans
and price supports without the bother of going
down to the extension office, and will also
(and I quote here):
"Allow a USDA employee to work
'directly in a cornfield' collecting data
instead of sitting in an office."
If all this is true, it would appear that they
can close some extension offices rather
than the bee labs. The farmers will not
need to go to the offices, and the employees
will all be "out in the field", using their
shiny new laptop computers all the time!
Forest Service Radios $ 32 million
With 30,000 employees total, that means
the USDA wants to spend over $1,000
per employee for walkie-talkies to be used
by field personnel [rangers] only! How many
of the 30,000 are "field staff"? No one is telling,
but it has to be a small fraction of the total.
"Reconfigure Project 615 GIS" $119.5 million
No one seems to be able to explain
why the USDA needs to "reconfigure"
their GIS (computer mapping) systems,
but the term "reconfigure" implies a
technology project than some fool drove
into a tree at 60mph, and a need to
scrap it and start over.
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