Fwd from local permie list:

--- On Wed, 12/17/08, Serge wrote:


Subject: Seedless mandarin growers vs. honey bees / Urgent and important / Your help is needed
Date: Wednesday, December 17, 2008, 11:21 PM

I just came back from a meeting of the Seedless Mandarin and Honey Bee Coexistence Workgourp, in Sacramento, today. The news is dismal.

If there ever was a time for you to get involved, this is it!
Please make a point of letting CDFA know your opposition to AB771 before the week's end. It is really urgent!
A word, a line, a letter, anything that will let the State Secretary of Agriculture know that you object to the unbelievable move by large citrus growers to forbid or reduce access to some areas in the state that are most important for the health of honeybees.

Here is a little background:
Citrus growers can generate much greater financial gains by planting varieties of mandarin oranges that can produce seedless fruit. So, they planted these in large numbers in recent years. Nothing wrong here, except that they did this without taking the proper precautions to ensure that the fruit be seedless (these are essentially to either plant varieties that can spontaneously produce seedless fruit or by assuring the presence of buffer zones around these orchards in order to prevent cross pollination by compatible pollen from other citrus varieties).
When they realized that their fruit contained seeds because honey bees foraged on their trees, they asked the state legislature to forbid the presence of honeybees within a two-mile radius of any 6 acre parcel of their orchard. This means potentially banning bees from 8,000 acres of land to protect any 6 acre orchard.
At a time when honey bees are suffering from loss of habitat and from ensueing malnutrition, among other ailments, this is absolutely incredible and unconscionable! And this is contributing to what is bound to be one of the greatest environmental crises of our time: the loss of pollinators.
urthermore, if this ruling is allowed to pass, citrus growers will be placing the burden of ensuring that they make a greater financial profit from their crops onto all the other people that live and work around their orchards.
Our legislators should protect the rights and freedom of individuals. In this case, they washed their hands of the issue and turned the decision over to a workgroup that shows no sign of coming to any compromise. So, ultimately the decision will be made by the State Secretary of Agriculture. This will be done within just a few days.

Of course, citrus growers have the right to plant whatever variety of mandarin oranges they want to on their land. But their revenue must be generated in a responsible manner. This can be done by netting the trees or by strategically placing the orchards, for example. This has to be done at their cost.
The rights and freedom of others who live and work around their orchards should not be affected. They should still not be prevented from having bees on their land.

Again, please write without delay to the State Secretary of Agriculture to say that you oppose AB771. Beekeepers should be allowed to have bees in these areas that are crucial to bee health, as they have traditionally done for decades

Also, forward this email to as many of your friends as possible.
This is urgent, as the State Secretary of Agriculture will make a determination in the next few days.
This is important, as the functioning of our ecosystem, including our food supply, depends on honey bees and other pollinators.

Here is the address of the CDFA:

A. G. Kawamura, Secretary
California Department of Food and Agriculture
1220 N Street, Suite A-400
Sacramento, CA 95814