Another bit of information from Jodie Goldworthy of Beechworth Honey:
So come on, ditch your weekend plans and get writing!!!! If you’re wondering what you can contribute think about commenting on the following or including things such as:
Who you are
Where you operate
What investment you have in your business
What economic contribution your business makes to your local economy
Which crops you pollinate and what the impact to those farmers will be if your hives are not available
How many people you and your farmers employ
How many people locally you buy your supplies from and the impact of your business on them
The social costs to your area if this decision means a decline in another rural industry in your area. Eg. Impact on local schools, hospitals, etc
What the uncertainty over the Asian bee and other threats to our industry is doing to your current or future plans
Any concerns you have over the costs of this decision on the value of your business should you wish to leave the industry
The costs you envisage if you have to adopt the hive management practices required to “live with” Asian bees – on top of small hive beetle, etc (eg. Smaller hive entrances)
The human cost (worry, etc) that this issue is causing you.
Remember you can define COST & BENEFIT in more ways than pure dollars and economics. You define them how you wish
Costs to our industry might be that with reduced beekeepers our ability to maintain our very industry structure & network becomes unstable as our members decline
Costs to hobby beekeepers may be that the effort will just not be worth it anymore! They pay the cost in loss of an important pastime.
Just remember that the information becomes public information so please don’t disclose all our financial secrets that you don’t with others to know about., keep it general is best.
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to make a valuable contribution to this inquiry – you just need to be a beekeeper who cares! And I have found that there are many of you out there – keep the fight going and please, please, please make a submission. If anyone wants to but can’t cope with the technical challenges to do so or just needs someone to proof read their letter them please let me know by phone or email and I and our staff will be more than happy to help with this.
We also expect there will be a new “flush” of media activity from this work. We have had quite a lot of the media waiting for new developments so keep an eye on the website as we update the important pieces as they come in.
The first of those this morning is available from the link below:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/renew-honeybee-fight-govt-urged/story-e6frf7jx-1226027709645