By: John Miller
In 1980, I was paying serious attention to how to succeed in beekeeping. The important factor in beekeeping survival was economic inflation. Paul Volker and Ronald Reagan were wringing inflation out of the U.S. economy. I bought my first home – with a mortgage interest rate of 10.75%. The monthly payment was $504.00 – which was a lift for a young couple with our first child. The first month, I mailed in our $504.00 payment and received by mail, a receipt. The principal paydown on that mortgage was .04 (four cents). $503.96 went to interest. In that one moment, I learned all I ever needed to know about debt.
Different challenges confronted us at different times in beekeeping since 1980. Sometimes the challenges were existential, sometimes governmental, sometimes trivial and sometimes malignantly underthought and destructive. It is possible to go broke keeping bees, but as Frank Pendall says, “It takes longer to go broke keeping bees than any other business.”
As a respected radio commentator once said: “Over my shoulder a backwards glance.”
What were the top challenges to beekeeping in 1980? Varroa mites were not yet here. The use of antibiotics to treat AFB was a blessing. The price of honey was not good. (Have you noticed how the price of honey has always, always, ALWAYS been too low?) Pollination fees were low. Bees were abundant, and easy to keep alive. Labor costs and availability were an annoyance, but farm families were still large and farms were still small. Compliance with ever expanding regulations had not yet knocked on the door of beekeepers. If you didn’t mind not making a lot of money – things were fine. Tracheal mites blew through the industry, creating a blip in sales of microscopes beekeepers never learned how to use. Beekeeping learned nothing from Tracheal mites.
What were the beekeeping challenges in 1990? Varroa was savaging American beekeeping. Quarantines only wiped out the ‘de-populated’ outfit – while the rest of us fled into the wilderness only a little bit Varroa-infected. The Conservation Reserve Program had taken firm root in the Great Plains for better or worse. Silage corn was grown for the still numerous dairy cows in the Great Plains. Scant acreage of corn for grain or soybeans was harvested in the Dakotas. Demand for California almond pollination expanded. Stocking rate recommendations varied. In 1997, the price of honey doubled from .70/lb. to $1.40/lb. Honey packers decided to put these words on jars of honey: ‘Do not feed to infants under a year old.’ The sky – and the honey market – did not collapse.
In 2000, finding labor in beekeeping outfits became a real issue. Farm families were smaller. Farms were larger. Corn for grain and soybean acreage range expanded north into short season regions. Crop genetics and production agriculture resulted in: ‘nothing grows inside the crop’ to gently state how seed companies viewed corn and soybean acreage. Varroa savaged beekeeping. Foulbrood no longer savaged beekeeping. Compliance with regulations, trucking, hours of service, DOT inspections, IRS regulations, fuel storage, off-label pesticide uses, all gathered regulator-scrutiny. Asian Citrus Psyllid destroyed the Florida citrus industry.
In 2010 – news of ‘self-compatible, self-pollinating’ foods manifest as crop geneticists sought to eliminate insect-provided pollen transfers. A tidal wave of corn and beans paved the prairie.
35-head North Dakota dairy herds were bought out and moved to 35-times larger dairy herds in California.
Varroa savaged beekeeping. Business succession plans succeeded and failed as ‘old-school’ outfits passed onto younger operators. Some outfits returned to their prior owners, a ruin. Some outfits thrived as some beekeepers realized the most important hire they ever make is their successor. Tax law became a thing. Understanding and embracing change was wrenching as honey producers became pollination providers – some living in the honey production past – got rolled by the present. Enforceable contracts became a thing. The supply of bees failed to keep up with the demand for bees. Nationally, the supply of flowers failed to keep up with colony nutrition needs. H-2A became the focus of beekeeping labor supply decisions.
In 2020, successful beekeeping outfits were figuring out Varroa. Lessons had been repeated until learned. It is not an understatement that OA & Glycerin formulation given to the industry by Randy Oliver changed things. Funny honey upset American beekeepers – and damaged markets. Still, every product finds a buyer of last resort, somehow. Almond acreage exploded; with 24% of total acreage not yet of bearing age at the precise moment global demand for almonds collapsed. An ominous rumble from Southeast Asia predicted another parasite, this one five times more destructive than Varroa; Tropilaelaps mercedesae.
By 2030, a number of Bee Culture readers will pass. In 2030, a white-hot battle over control of Tropi will vex beekeepers and growers. Humans dependent on arguably the most beneficial insect on earth will experience food-price/availability shocks. It is not known if production agriculture and beekeepers will successfully respond. A generation of thoughtful beekeepers will be pressed into considering the future of beekeeping, and the future of food. Beekeepers will not be alone in the considerations – but we will most acutely feel the spear. As gate-keepers of the food supply – what does the gate look like?
