The Buzz Newsletter

April 2006

 

 

IHPA Board Meeting of March 11th, 2006

The IHPA board of directors met March 11 in Des Moines. The new directory of beekeepers is finished. We are looking for a printer. We are getting a price from Principle. The Farm Bureau is another option. They have offered to help us with printing projects.

It was decided to offer the video ”A year with Honeybees” to schools and youth organizations for educational purposes at fee of $5 to pay for postage and handling. Margaret Hala is going to assist Phil Ebert with video sales. She will keep a stock of videos and mail them from her home. Inspection was also discussed. The state had intended to only inspect beekeepers with more than 50 colonies. It turns out that there are some legal problems with this. Inspection has to be available to all. The latest thing is that they are only going to inspect hives that are registered. This may be a bit of a moot point. The registration site doesn’t work and there aren’t enough inspectors to cover the state. Last year, there were only 130 beekeepers that registered their bees. This is a bad deal because the state looks at numbers. If people don’t utilize a system, they think it isn’t needed. It’s a bit of a Catch 22. The system doesn’t work but we need more people in it.

We don’t know what is happening to the money appropriated for apiary. Some money has gone for the registration website. We don’ know if the rest of the money is still there. We are supposed to get an accounting of how this money is spent. So far, it’s not happening. We keep asking but that’s as far as it gets.

There was a lot of discussion about the youth mentoring program and how to coordinate honey sales with the FFA. It was decided to evaluate this after the convention when we have a better idea of what the response is. Teresa presented the application process for the youth mentoring program and explained the survey sheets she was going to hand out to measure interest in honey sales among the FFA chapters. She also had the budget of the program worked out.

We finished up in about 3½ hours

 

Consider an IHPA Membership

This is mainly directed to people who read “The Buzz” on the internet. It’s true you can read it for free with no obligation to join the organization. We post it so beekeepers can have access to information. With no apiary department in Iowa, there are limited opportunities to get information out. Our current membership is hovering around 200. When we go to the state or some other agency to get help on a project, that is not a very impressive number. If you don’t already belong to the IHPA, we would like for you to consider membership. We are not gong to make any money from your dues. Half of that will go in postage to mail you “The Buzz”. The other half won’t begin to cover the production cost. There is strength in numbers. We definitely need to build our numbers to have any influence. We are working to increase the advantages to being a member.

So You Want to be a Bee Inspector

Is there anybody out there who would like to be an inspector? We currently have two inspectors--Bill Eichold in the northwest and Boyd Palmer in the northeast. They can’t cover the entire state. We need more inspectors to make travel efficient.

The state has money for bee inspection. The problem is we don’t know what is happening to it. Some of the money has gone to establish the yard registration website. The IHPA is supposed to get an accounting of how the rest this money is being spent. So far, this has not happened. To get adequate inspection, I think we are going to have to provide the state with a list of names of potential inspectors and then pressure them to hire someone. Inspectors are part time employees who can work 780 hours per year. The pay is close to $15/hr. Mileage is paid by the counties. It helps if you have a fuel efficient vehicle.

If you are interested but don’t feel confident about disease detection, I would say you should submit your name anyway. Contact one of the board members. If we had several names to submit at the same time. I would feel more confident about getting some results.

Submitted by Phil Ebert

Honey Prices

As I was walking to the mailbox today(March 8), I was thinking about the low bulk price for honey. When I looked at the post, there was a letter from the AHPA saying the Argentine crop came in 30% below average. Much of this crop had already been sold on forward contracts at low prices. Current pricing for Argentine honey 34mm and lighter at the dock in New York (as of this writing) is 83 cents.

The EU has banned food imports from Brazil. This has forced European buyers into Argentina trying to buy honey. This has driven up the price. Some Argentine exporters are not taking orders at any price. If the bonding loophole should happen to get closed, honey prices could really take off. Here are some Brazilian prices in metric tons by the container load (approx 20,000#):Orange Honey $2130, Eucalyptus Honey $1760, Wild Flower-La $1700 Wild Flower-white-$1820. All prices are FOB at the port of Santos, Brazil as of march 6th.

The legislation to close the bonding loophole is still being held up in committee. Bill Thomas, who is the chairman of the Ways ands Means Committee, is responsible for this. He is from Bakersfield, Ca, which is almond growing country. One would think he would be concerned about beekeepers being able to stay in business but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Richard Adee reports in the spring addition of the honey Producers magazine that four Chinese companies have applied for new shipper status and are now booking massive quantities of honey at very low prices for April and May delivery.

Submitted by Phil Ebert