In a recent article in the BBKA News (September 2020 page 300) Roger Patterson expresses his concern about "a new breed of beekeeper who thinks they can bypass the traditional ways of learning" and he warns associations to expect a reduction in membership. He recounts his conversation with one such prospective beekeeper who had learnt all he thought he needed to know online.
We recently had a post on the forum from one such person who clearly thought little of traditional beekeeping methods (and beekeepers it seemed) although at the same time they saw the forum as useful to get answers (I assume because it was a quicker way to fill the vast gaps in their knowledge than searching on-line elsewhere). Of great concern to me was that person's indication that they would treat AFB/EFB themselves but without knowing that these were notifiable diseases that posed a threat to bee colonies all around them.
It seems to me that this "new breed" fits into a different class to the beginners that I had the pleasure of meeting at our association's beginners classes. Many of those may have had ideas and aspirations that are outside the norm of traditional beekeeping but they were willing to learn the basic skills and were very appreciative of the huge time and effort put into training them by volunteers who looked for nothing more than a thank you at the end.
The "new breed" are often well educated and articulate but naïvely ignorant as to the consequences of their "hands off beekeeping". They can be aggressive, sarcastic and disparaging when referring to beekeepers, that they then turn to when caught out by their stupidity. I can think of more than one such beekeeper closer to me than I am comfortable with so there must be many more across the country as a whole.
Roger saw a threat to beekeeping associations but I see a bigger problem than that. I think they are a potential danger to our bees, which are after all a valuable national resource. I am not a great advocate of even more legislation but is not the time fast approaching that compulsory registration is needed?
We recently had a post on the forum from one such person who clearly thought little of traditional beekeeping methods (and beekeepers it seemed) although at the same time they saw the forum as useful to get answers (I assume because it was a quicker way to fill the vast gaps in their knowledge than searching on-line elsewhere). Of great concern to me was that person's indication that they would treat AFB/EFB themselves but without knowing that these were notifiable diseases that posed a threat to bee colonies all around them.
It seems to me that this "new breed" fits into a different class to the beginners that I had the pleasure of meeting at our association's beginners classes. Many of those may have had ideas and aspirations that are outside the norm of traditional beekeeping but they were willing to learn the basic skills and were very appreciative of the huge time and effort put into training them by volunteers who looked for nothing more than a thank you at the end.
The "new breed" are often well educated and articulate but naïvely ignorant as to the consequences of their "hands off beekeeping". They can be aggressive, sarcastic and disparaging when referring to beekeepers, that they then turn to when caught out by their stupidity. I can think of more than one such beekeeper closer to me than I am comfortable with so there must be many more across the country as a whole.
Roger saw a threat to beekeeping associations but I see a bigger problem than that. I think they are a potential danger to our bees, which are after all a valuable national resource. I am not a great advocate of even more legislation but is not the time fast approaching that compulsory registration is needed?