It is always interesting to read these threads since they do fall into 
"Aaron's Rant" (I like the term since it sounds Biblical). The hobby 
beekeeper wants all commercial operations ended to save beekeeping as we 
know it, even though it means an end to some of the things they take for 
granted, plentiful seeds for their gardens (bees are trucked in for that 
too) and cheap food.

Commercial operations are in difficulty, so why blame them when the 
problem is Varroa (IMO) and virus (and nosema?). They did not create the 
mite.Truth is, were there not a large commercial beekeeping industry, 
you would have very little money for Varroa research and hobby 
beekeeping would do just what it has done in my area, which is decrease 
to one solitary beekeeper. The native pollinator crowd would then have 
the wherewithal to outlaw honey bees as an invasive species, and don't 
think they would not do just that. End of beekeeping as we know it.

So the commercial operations that some (and it is a small group) 
condemn, should be looked on as the savior of the small beekeeper since 
the commercial pollinators are the engine that drives the political and 
money machine to save our bees and make saving the honeybee a national 
priority.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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