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  • From: Doug Edmunds <modfathernc AT gmail.com>
  • To: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>, ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] The Bee Mogul - interesting piece in NYTimes
  • Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:52:21 +0000

Thanks, Randall. I know there are significant differences between these kinds of huge commercial beekeepers portrayed in the Times piece and those of us who are either experienced or, like me, newbie hobbyists. I simply found the article interesting. And I thank you for sharing those additional resources, which I will definitely check out. 

As someone else on the list so aptly put it in a private response to me earlier, what the world really needs is 300k more backyard beekeepers rather than one more beekeeper with 300k bees! I'm excited and humbled to be joining the local community of apiary aficionados!

All the best,
Doug 


On Sun, Feb 19, 2017 at 4:59 PM Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com> wrote:

Doug,

For a look at what is involved in commercial beekeeping, I highly recommend the immensely entertaining and enlightening book Following the Bloom by Douglas Whynott. Backyard beekeeping bears little similarity to migratory, commercial beekeeping, just as backyard gardening is completely foreign to production agriculture.

The article <here> and the academic papers linked within it provide a completely different perspective on the "bees are dying" popular-media hype. If you genuinely want to know why the popular media always reports so-called "losses" (and what is really meant by that term) and never report annual inventory levels, take a look at the article. But please don't read it if you don't really want to know.

Randall Austin


On 2/19/2017 8:50 AM, Doug Edmunds wrote:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/business/a-bee-mogul-confronts-the-crisis-in-his-field.html

In today's Sunday edition, posted online on Thursday, apparently. The article discusses the large-scale commercial operations of Bret Adee ("America's largest beekeeper") and the problem of bee colony collapse, causes for which the article notes are widely debated. However, I found these figures somewhat alarming:

"Demand for Mr. Adee’s bees is soaring in part because a poorly understood plague, known as colony collapse, has decimated the nation’s bee population in the last decade. The cause is widely debated: Some cite climate change affecting habitat, others the proliferation of certain pesticides, but most believe the problem has multiple factors.

Whatever the reason, in the year that ended in April 2016, 44 percent of the overall commercial bee population died. In a typical year before the plague, only 10 percent to 15 percent would have died, and Mr. Adee’s losses would have been between 3 and 7 percent."

On that sobering note, enjoy the beautiful weather today!

Doug


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