NJ has been giving away scholorships for new beekeepers. It comes w/ a three day course, equipment and a deep of bees. They value it at $300. As a result, there are many new beeks in NJ. Our little South Jersey Branch has grown to 54 paying members from 18 two years ago. Thats while a large number of oldtimers also left the club due to advanced age. It is truly growing. I can only hope this local trend continues and actually increases the total number of beekeepers. For a hobby beek, I can only say that keeping a few hives is not a lot of work. Once you expand and start to put hives off your yard, it gets to be a lot of work. I believe through the issues presented by CCD we are at a moment in time where we need to maximize our small window of notoriety and promote the heck out of beekeeping. I know, I'm talking to the choir.