The 2010 summer meeting of the Wisconsin Honey Producer's Association was held today. I'm not politically-saavy, but I'm beginning to suspect that Wisconsin must carry some clout in the world of honeybees, given how guest speakers have traveled from halfway across the country for our sweet sakes.
This meeting the ante was upped a bit, as no less than the President of the American Beekeeping Federation (David Mendes) flew in from Boston to give two spiels, one more didactic and the other more of a "listening tour" session. What's particularly significant--quite apart from such a generous donation of time--is the fact that rapproachment continues between the ABF and the American Honey Producers Association (AHPA), which splintered off (with all due acrimoniousness) from the ABF sometime--I believe--in the 1960s.
In a sense, Mr. Mendes was in "enemy territory" in another sense. His outfit is almost exclusively dedicated to pollinating, with a secondary income from selling off the bees he doesn't have room for, and honey only a far-distant tertiary money-maker.
The history of American apiculture since the split has certainly been interesting--in the sense of the Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times." Highlights: The virulent bacterial disease known as American foulbrood pulled ahead in the evolutionary arms race against antibiotics. Africanized honeybees invaded the southern United States. The parasitic varroa mite population exploded onto the scene to devastate bee populations (kept, but especially wild) and begin its own arms race against pesticides. And in the last decade, colony collapse disorder appeared, triggering the ongoing debate on whether it's a disease or symptom.
Those are just the big hitters. The list of apian diseases, disorders and parasites numbers in the dozens. All the while, government budget cuts on various levels have closed bee lab after bee lab, and pushed the brunt of the research into a handful of university entomology or agriculture departments. And, to a lesser degree, private industry groups such as the ABF. Even the perennially cash-strapped WHPA sets aside a small sum to fund researchers.
In 20/20 hindsight, such R&D cuts couldn't have come at a worse time. I mean that largely from a scientific standpoint, but also from a human one. Bickering added to the competing interests of the beekeeping world certainly didn't help present the united front that would have been required for making the case for continued tax-funded investment in bee research. And, as important as the research itself, the investment payoff in the form of an ever-growing central repository of data, results and peer-reviewed recommendations representative of the entire United States, not just a handful of southern locales.
But such regrets are just so much honey through the gate. In 2007, the ABF and AHPA held their first joint national convention, and have tentatively planned to do so triannually. But, perhaps more hopeful for new solidarity among besieged beekeepers was the rapt attention to Mr. Mendes' summary of his year as a pollinating beekeeper, and the techniques used to minimize the stress on his hives. More hopeful still, the intense question-and-answer period following that.
Honeybees are infinitely amazing creatures, biologically and socially. But perhaps we wingless two-leggers can, after all, adapt to communicate and organize and cooperate in our own "hive" in ways that would astound even them. Here's to a more combined future.
