I just got back from the Fryeburg Fair and I asked the bee keeper at the honey booth how things were going with that honey bee disease. Bee discombobulation disease or whatever they call it - the thing that is killing them all off. WELL I got the true story of what is going on. It used to be that bee keepers could make a living selling honey. Then trade opened up with China and China undersold American honey and cornered the market. About 70% of all honey in stores now actually comes from China. Even if it doesn't say China it could come from China. Because, after China cornered the market in the USA, we put a big tarrif on their honey and they started laundering their honey through other countries. So, U S bee keepers started having to find other ways to make money - so they started hiring themselves out to farmers just to pollinate their crops and traveling far and wide - not caring about hony production just selling their services for pollination. This has led to overstressing the colonies and using the bees in a way that nature never intended and that is a major part of the problem. I plan never to buy honey in a store from now on only from American bee keepers.
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