> Let's see if I have this right...

> 1) Canada feared that imports of US bees would  contain varroa, and more recently,  "resistant" varroa.

> 2) So, Canada banned US bees, and instead imported bees from places like New Zealand.

Not exactly.  Canada closed the Canada / US border in two stages against tracheal mites.  Once the ban was in place, it has been extended, on various pretexts.

For this and more info, my recent diary (last two months) has a number of references you might find helpful.

Sorry, but the diary is written for my own pleasure and includes lots of drivel.  There are a some nuggets there, though.

> 3) New Zealand certifies that the queens and packages exported are not only free of  varroa, but come from breeding yards far from any detected varroa infestation.

> I think you may want to speak with Medhat Nasr about the viability of this approach.

He is very much aware.

Currently, we, in the Northwest are realizing again that beekeeping is just subsistence beekeeping here (in normal honey market years) without massive annual imports.  The US is our logical and traditional supplier and the others were just emergency substitutes until we could learn if tracheal (then varroa) would destroy North American beekeeping.

We now know.  They haven't/won't.

Since most of this part of Canada is not in the natural range of honey bees, and, left alone they would die out within a decade for all intents and purposes, it actually does not much matter where we get our bees, as long as they are good on arrival and do well.

The US is our natural partner and our best friend and we are tired of favouritism shown to distant shores, even if these are our British Commonwealth relatives, that tie is weak compared to the N/S trade history on our continent.

allen

Tuesday December 06, 2005 05:17 PM