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Author Topic: a funny thing happened on the way to the symposium  (Read 1966 times)

Offline bberry

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a funny thing happened on the way to the symposium
« on: March 09, 2008, 10:01:19 pm »
Ok, nothing funny happened on the way but something kind of dissapointing happened AT the Symposium. For the second year we had a local Bee Symposium here in Santa Rosa, Ca. yesterday. Randy Oliver came up from Grass Valley and gave a really informative presentation about the state of the honey bee and how to take care of them and treat naturally i.e. Oxalic acid and p. sugar. He stressed the importance of diverse genetics and working with the natural instinct of the bees-very informative and i actually learned a few new techniques. Later Serge LaBasque spoke and said much the same with the exception that he adamently stressed NOT treating your bees AT ALL and letting natural selection and consious management weed out the bad genetics-he said this is the only way we are going to salvage the declining bee situation-very thought provoking and i can see the merit in this. What i was sad to see is the presentation become polorized (or at least the audience seeing it that way), the point seemed to be missed somewhere. Here were two speakers, highly admired and knowledgeable (and friends i might add) and the crowd just jumped all over the one difference in opinion the two had. Now granted, this is a big point of discussion and passionate thinking and feeling in the world of beekeeping but come on! What ended up happening is minds were being closed, sides being picked and the speakers being put on the defensive, especially Randy who was the 'commercial beekeeper' in the bunch and taking quite a heavier hit. Everyone seemed to ignore the fact that these two were saying 98.9% of the same. I personally was happy to have a wide range of speakers with differing opinions because this is how we will figure out how to proceed in a difficult time.
So ok, i have spouted but i would really like to know if this is what people are experiencing at these meetings or what? It certainly won't stop me from attending and i sent an e-mail of thanks to both speakers just to let them know i really appreciated their bold presentations and look forward to hearing them again. But i can't help wondering if this could have gone better and people could have walked away with more. :-\

Offline Pond Creek Farm

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Re: a funny thing happened on the way to the symposium
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2008, 10:10:31 pm »
I'm attending my first state association meeting next weekend, and I am hopeful that people do not behave in a disrepsectful manner there.  We are all in this together and we all come to this with different levels of understanding and different goals.  We all, however, share a common interest in the present and future of the bees.  Surely we can come together to share that common interest rather than to identify and amplify differences in our methods. 

Brian
Brian

Offline rdy-b

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Online Michael Bush

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Re: a funny thing happened on the way to the symposium
« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2008, 11:15:47 pm »
This last HAS (2007) was the first bee meeting I was EVER at where ANY of the speakers talked about not treating.  In fact ALL of the speakers pretty much talked about not treating... Quite a change from the past.
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Offline bberry

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Re: a funny thing happened on the way to the symposium
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2008, 08:08:38 pm »
Rdy-b-You can see what i was talking about! :shock: I sent Randy an e-mail thanking him for his presentation that night because i wanted to make sure someone did. All those who are working toward the same goals-and i don't even think most of the people in that audience knew enough to realize they were all on the same side :roll:-need to be supportive of eachothers positive work.

Offline wtiger

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Re: a funny thing happened on the way to the symposium
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2008, 08:35:31 pm »
It does make a lot of sense not treating.  All treating does in perpetuate inferior genetics.  Although the massive initial losses of not treating are painful the long term result is good for both beekeepers and feral bees.