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Saturday, June 16, 2012

Bee Industry eyes profit


(Farmer newspaper 15.6.12)

"The bee industry wants a larger slice of the $5 billion to $10 billion being made in agriculture a year from bees pollinating pastures, crops and orchards. Pollination earnings are worth $20 million to beekeepers, and growing, but the lion's share of their income is from honey sales with exported receipts at about $100 m. Yet in many countries this ratio is the other way around with pollination the larger earner.
While orchardists and growers of valuable small seed crops, many centred in Mid-Canterbury, pay beekeepers for pollination this has increased more lately since the arrival of varroa disease and the demise of wild bees."

Lip-service is often given to the importance of honey bees to our primary industries, but precious little activity to secure their future is evident, to my mind. I suppose it'll be one of those,"Oh, God! We're in trouble now!' situations, where we desperately try to repair what ought to have been maintained throughout.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow,
Robert Guyton pushes for profits in a primary industry. Another flip flop.

Anonymous said...

I wish I could post a picture but I can't so I will post a link.

http://ancillairwan.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/financial-freedom-is-an-imagination/

Disclaimer - Humour

robertguyton said...

Didn't expect that did you Anon!
Anon @ 8:57 Thanks. Leunig is a genius. I'll post another today.

Anonymous said...

Ha,
Both Anons were the same. The Leunig is directed at you Robert. Unfortuneatly you missed the Humour.