I appreciate the replies. I am not knocking, just trying to get behind
the logic. I am on record as stating that pollination service (as we call
it here) consists of 60% communication and 40% of bio-technical issues
such as horticulture, bee management, entomology and, off course,
logistics.

"David L. Green" wrote

> And probably four nucs are not even going to be equivalent to one full
> strength colony, at least with the bees we are used to in the US.

Are you letting the grower decide about what he is getting / not getting?
Or are you making the decision for him?

> But, if the field workers are getting stung, you are not going to get much
> pollination

As far as I am concerned - and this has been corroborated often - stinging
episodes with AHB's, also in Africa, are more often than not triggered by
interference in the hives. Are your pickers trying to interfere with the
pollination work done by the bees, by stealing honey and/or brood?
So,? They get stung ...?!

Disturbed bees are not going to do the pollination work they should be
doing. Are you letting the grower know this? Are you setting his staff down
and explaining this to them? We have learnt to do this and vandalism is
down to a minimum. We also make the grower pay for vandalised hives
over and above his pollination costs.

On the other hand we explain to them that improved pollination means
more money for the grower, because of better product, which in turn
is more money in their packet at the end of the day and sustainable
agriculture follows. Mark Winston has a lovely article on the yuppie
pollinator: "More pollination income for everyone" in Bee Culture
of April 1994.

> They will throw gasoline on them and touch them off.

Who pays? And why do this to another man's property? Because
of jealousy of the fact that the grower and the beekeeper are
progressive and successful? Is it our of hunger?

>  The pickers will tolerate a sting now and then, but they will not
> tolerate really nasty hives.

Not for them to say! The grower pays both the pickers and the
pollination service provider. Only by good preparation can this
problem be solved. Bees out of sight of the fields perhaps?
They fly you know.

> The downside of keeping gentle bees on pollination is that the pickers like to
> steal frames of honey (or even whole supers).

Point made!

> This can lead to starving bees on vine crops where they won't make additional
> honey.

And NO pollination happens.

SO, with BIG ahb colonies, your grower gets better pollination,
because the pickers should not disturb them ... once they have
been told the cost to THEMSELVES of improper pollination ...
and of funerals.
QED.

Once again, I am aware of the fact that perhaps not all the factors that
play a role here are open to me. I may be out of line in this simplistic
evaluation of the question. We make a living out of providing a pollination
service that strives for excellence and these issues are dear to us.

Robert Post