Everything is an economic issue.
And I agree with everything you have said, but we Beekeepers must accurate data to the public about what they real problems are for bees and beekeeping.
The mites and Nosema are by and large the major problems for the bees but the neonics and CCD are getting all the popular media attention.
Both of those are issues, but we above all else, the mites must be addressed not only on the micro level of every beekeeper but among the public and any research that is conducted.
I first kept bees in the early 1980’s and my one beekeeping lesson consisted of, “Go catch your swarm, but them in a hive, when you think the hive is full of bees add your supers. If they get real aggressive, get a new queen, but other than that, they will be okay.”
I get back into beekeeping in the 21st century and it is much more difficult.
Re-queen every year and a half to prevent Africanization.
Do a hive inspection every two weeks and check for mites, moths and if your queen is still there.
I am up to ten hives now and it is just a hobby, but I find the more honey I give away, the more friends and family come out of the woodwork wanting honey.
It’s a fun hobby but I don’t see how people can make money from beekeeping, bit when I think about how they may make money, it scares the hell out of me and I will never consume bought honey again.
Absolutely, but keep in mind that the problems are somewhat regional. Here in VA, we have mites but for most beeks they just aren’t the horror they were years ago. I don’t even bother with mite counts. We don’t have nosema to any significant extent and so far have avoided AHB. On the other hand small hive beetles are an utter scourge, we’ve been having problems with EFB and we have short, intense nectar flows that keep production low. But all in all, for an insect that is allegedly going to die out, I’ve run out of equipment and space to handle the splits my hives are generating.
One thing that is interesting about VA though is that for all the disagreements beeks tend to have, there is a sort of broad agreement that out of state packages are a bad idea, and local survivor stock bees are the gold standard. We also have no migratory beekeepers to speak of so we don’t get to participate in the annual post almonds bee pathogen festival. Probably why nosema just isn’t encountered that much.