NP 305, Crop Production, focuses on the most critical issues and needs of U.S. production agriculture. It comprises two major Research Components: (1) Integrated Sustainable Crop Production Systems and (2) Bees and Pollination.

Component 1. Integrated Sustainable Crop Production Systems
This component encompasses ARS efforts to improve existing and develop new production systems for current and emerging crops. Production systems are highly complex and depend on the integration of multiple management components. Innovative technologies, methods, and strategies are vital to maintaining and improving profitability of production systems, conserving energy and natural resources, and promoting agroecosystem sustainability, including marginal lands or urbanized environments.

Component 2. Bees and Pollination
Bees are crucial for U.S. agriculture and ecosystem health. The honey bee is one of the most effective pollinators for fruit and nut crops such as cherries, apples, and almonds; row crops such as cucurbits and melons; oilseed crops such as sunflowers and canola; and berries. Given the pollinating potential of a honey bee colony due to its wide foraging area, the large numbers of bees in a typical healthy colony, the ease at which honey bees can adapt to new environments, and the value of hive products, honey bees play critical roles in many specialty crop commodities. Non-Apis bees, including bumble bees, alfalfa leafcutter bees, and blue orchard bees, are also effective pollinators of agricultural crops and many native plant species. Native bees, some living solitary or in small colonies, perform ecosystem services of value that cannot be estimated.

Current Action Plan
NP 305 Action Plan 2018 – 2023

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: https://www.ars.usda.gov/crop-production-and-protection/crop-production/

ABC Central West

/ By Hugh Hogan, Hamish Cole, Alex James, and Kim Honan

Australia was the last major honey producing country to be free of the pest before the outbreak. ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

An invasive parasite deadly to bees has been detected in central west NSW for the first time.

Key points:

• Varroa mite has been detected at Gumble near Molong, with 23 hives already destroyed
• The hives were legally moved to the area from Sackville North in Sydney and traced to the area as part of the ongoing containment effort
• Local beekeepers remain confident the outbreak can be contained

The Department of Primary Industries has euthanized 23 hives at Gumble near Molong that tested positive to varroa mite after tracing their movement from Sackville North in Sydney.

The department said the movement was legal but was then followed up after a detection in the Sydney region.

The outbreak started at the Port of Newcastle last year and has since been found in almost 200 hives across the Central Coast, Hunter, and Sydney basin.

DPI deputy incident controller Shannon Mulholland said the fact the detection was made so quickly showed the biosecurity measures were working.

The latest detection is the first time varroa mite has been found in the NSW central west. Map can be found at https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/emergencies/biosecurity/current-situation/varroa-mite-emergency-response

“The site has already been euthanized so by acting on that quite quickly we were able to get on top that situation and work to further mitigate spread of the mite,” she said.

Australia was previously the only major honey producing country in the world free of the mite before the outbreak in Newcastle.

The pest is known to weaken and kill colonies of honey bees but can also transmit deadly viruses between hives.

In the last 12 months more than 130,000 hives have been tested for the parasite, with more 25,000 destroyed, according to the DPI.

Local producers confident

The central west was previously a blue zone, meaning it was in the general emergency zone but not in any eradication or surveillance areas.

Despite the fresh outbreak, local honey producer John Lockwood remained confident the ongoing incursion could be contained.

“It is slowly spreading through the Central Coast which is a concern, I do believe they have a ring around it which is fantastic that they’ve found the outer edge and have it contained,” he said.

“This one at Gumble is from a legal hive movement and there is very low [numbers of] mite in the colonies so it is just a spot fire I believe.”

However, the president of Crop Pollination Australia Steve Fuller said the detection of varroa mite was “very concerning”.

“The problem is it is blue zone to blue zone [transmission], that is where the industry is really worried,” he said.

“If it was an illegal movement, industry would be a lot happier.”

A 10-kilometre eradication zone has been established around the discovery at Gumble where all hives will be euthanized.

A 25km surveillance zone has also been established where officials will be monitoring both domestic and wild honey bee colonies.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Varroa mite detected in central west NSW but honey producers remain confident – ABC News

Honey bees aren’t an endangered species; they’re causing chaos

Yes, everyone loves them and keeping them has become a green hobby, but they’d feel differently if a swarm besieged their home

By Antonia Hoyle

Antonia Hoyle: ‘I frantically vacuumed them up and deposited them outside as fast as they arrived’ CREDIT: Geoff Pugh for The Telegraph

For days, there were only a few, upstairs – blown in through a window, I assumed, by the late spring breeze. But then more came downstairs, gaining ominously in number until one morning three weeks ago, I walked into the living room to find hundreds of the creatures crawling, seemingly lethargic, over the carpet.

“Wasps!” I wailed to my analyst husband, Chris, who like me is 44. I frantically vacuumed them up and deposited them outside as fast as they arrived, until the pest controller arrived at our location home. Pointing at a cloud of black dots dancing around our third-floor chimney, he corrected me: “You’ve got honey bees.”

Being gatecrashed by sugar plum fairies would have been simpler, and less controversial, to navigate. While not illegal, pesticides permitted to treat honey bees in a domestic setting are strictly limited, ethically questionable, and some pest controllers refuse to deploy them.

Short of advising us to stuff the fireplaces they’d been flying in through, and spend hundreds hiring a cherry picker to send someone up to the roof to physically extract them (with no guarantee of success) there was little he could do, the pest control man apologised, letting us know, for what it was worth, that we are far from alone.

This month beekeepers reported an increase in honeybee swarms – which happen when the old queen departs the hive with half the bees to set up a new home – caused by the sudden change in weather after a long, cold spring.

Usually, this split happens in a “staggered manner,” explains Matthew Richardson, president of the Scottish Beekeepers’ Association, but because of the delay in decent weather “the bees have been queuing up waiting to swarm and they’re all going at once.”

For many, the image might gladden the heart. Chris’s eyes certainly softened when I disclosed the identity of our uninvited guests and our 12-year-old daughter Rosie was delighted: “They’re an endangered species!”

But are they? In recent years, wildlife campaigners have made huge efforts to raise awareness of the importance of bees, of which there are around 270 species in the UK, including 24 species of bumble bees and hundreds of wild solitary bees that nest alone in cavities or underground.

Many are in decline – we have already lost around 13 species, including the short-haired bumblebee, last recorded in 1956, and the great yellow bumblebee in 1974. Another 35 species are currently at risk, with the use of pesticides in farming and destruction of pollen and nectar to feed off largely to blame – the UK has lost 97 per cent of its wildflower meadows since the 1930s.

Concern around honey bees, however, seems to stem from 2007, when an unexplained condition called colony collapse disorder (CCD), in which worker bees in a honey bee colony disappear, was officially recognised. Colony losses were reported in America and Europe and the potential impact on agriculture – according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the global value of global crops pollinated by honey bees in 2005 was estimated at over £150bn – was huge.

Within a decade, the threat of CCD seemingly passed, but our passion for honey bees continued, often in cities where beekeeping has become a fashionable “green” hobby. In 2021 UK Google searches for “urban beekeeping” jumped 21 per cent in a year. Celebrities who keep bees, meanwhile, include David Beckham and Jeremy Clarkson and last month a picture of the Princess of Wales wearing a beekeeper’s suit while tending to a hive in her Norfolk estate was released to mark World Bee Day.

Yet honey bees, the only species that makes honey, are not at risk – and, experts warn, our obsession with breeding them could be detrimental to bee species that are.

“There’s definitely a popular misconception around bees,” says Andrew Whitehouse of insect conservation charity Buglife, who says honey bees are “not endangered, they’re essentially livestock” and believes misunderstandings began when charities such as his own started to raise awareness of the importance of all pollinating insects around 20 years ago: “Perhaps the conservation organisations didn’t explain things properly and well-meaning people reached for the solution which was to increase the number of honey bees.”

At the same time as charities were starting to promote the importance of “wild pollinators,” he adds, CCD was becoming widely known: “I think the two issues were conflated a bit.”

Because honey bees are good at collecting pollen and returning it straight to their hives, they are less efficient at pollinating some plants than wild bees, with whom they compete for pollen.  And honey bee hives are bigger than most……

To read the complete article go to;

Honey bees aren’t an endangered species; they’re causing chaos (telegraph.co.uk)

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Honey bees aren’t an endangered species; they’re causing chaos (telegraph.co.uk)

The CFIA is committed to its mandate to protect animal health, which includes the health of the Canadian bee population. The CFIA will continue to engage with the Canadian Honey Council, the USDA, provincial governments and apiculturists and a wide range of other stakeholders with respect to Canadian honeybee health.

In addition, the CFIA continues to put significant effort into identifying and evaluating potential new sources of packaged bees and queen bees internationally. Canada currently allows imports of honey bee queens from the United States, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Ukraine, Italy and Malta, and honey bee packages from Ukraine, Italy, Chile, Australia and New Zealand.

Sincerely,

Parthi

Dr. Parthi Muthukumarasamy (he, him, il)

Executive Director, International Programs Directorate

Canadian Food Inspection Agency / Government of Canada

Parthiban.Muthukumarasamy@inspection.gc.ca | 343-550-3542

Directeur exécutif, Direction des programmes internationaux

Agence canadienne d’inspection des aliments / Gouvernement du Canada

Parthiban.Muthukumarasamy@inspection.gc.ca | 343-550-3542

Beekeeping Technician

Essential functions:

• Lead beekeeping operations that involves appropriately managing 200-400 colonies for research and extension activities
• Build, operate, and repair beekeeping equipment (e.g., equipment for honey extraction, feeding pumps, forklifts, woodenware)
• Possess, or ability to possess, a pesticide applicators license
• Direct junior technicians and undergraduate students, and provide mentorship and skills development
• Support field and laboratory experiments, especially alongside post-doctoral scientists and graduate students
• Communicate to stakeholders through hands-on workshops and classroom presentations
• Work under challenging conditions (e.g., ability to lift >60 lbs and operate in hot/humid conditions with stinging insects)

Minimum requirements
Education level: A bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution
Field of study: Agriculture, Entomology, Biology, or related natural or social sciences field
Areas of experience: Experience and foundational knowledge concerning honey bee biology and management. Several years of sideline or commercial beekeeping experience, especially concerning swarm management, splitting, queen rearing, disease and nutrition management, and honey production. Experience using woodworking tools (e.g., power tools like table saws, circular saws, and drill presses), as well as ability to troubleshoot and solve the practical and organizational problems involved in beekeeping and research (e.g., equipment setup and maintenance, scheduling, and planning for weather and contingencies).

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE POSITION AND TO APPLY PLEASE VISIT: https://www.auemployment.com/postings/39244
Only applications submitted via the Auburn University Human Resources page will be considered.

Required application documents:
1. Cover letter
2. Resume
3. Contact information for 3 references
4. Copies of post-secondary transcripts or other relevant qualifications

If you are interested in learning more about this position, please see the full opportunity brief by clicking here to download the PDF.

Texas Public Radio | By Brian Kirkpatrick

Brian Kirkpatrick / Eighteen-year-old Cashlyn Varnon was selected as this year’s festival Honey Queen.

Uvalde brought back its Honey Fest tradition this weekend to celebrate the local industry, little more than one year after the Robb Elementary School shooting that left 19 students and two teachers dead. It was cancelled last year because of the tragedy.

The bees that produce the region’s honey and the townspeople both share a strong sense of community.

“They are tough, and they are going to do everything they can to survive. They work together, and they all pull their weight. And it’s all about the hive,” said local beekeeper Linda Williams.

Brian Kirkpatrick / Beekeeper Chianne Delacerda at the Uvalde Honey Fest on June 9, 2023.

Fellow local beekeeper Chianne Delacerda liked the comparison, too. Delacerda operates Deer Valley Apiary just outside Uvalde.

“The community still tries to come together,” she said. “We still try to stay cohesive as a unit. Everyone kind of supports each other through everything.”

Festival manager Gloria Reza agreed.

Brian Kirkpatrick / Bees at work at the Uvalde Honey Fest on Friday, June 9, 2023.

“We are one big beehive. We’re a bunch of worker bees, and we will find a way to pick up the pieces,” she said. “Not just from this tragedy, but from anything that has happened to us.”

It’s clear the residents of this farm and ranching town will always remember the shooting victims.

Eighteen-year-old Honey Queen Cashlyn Varnon was asked if the festival is a step toward a new normal. “A little bit. It’s definitely still different,” she said.

Brian Kirkpatrick / Honey Fest in Uvalde on June 9, 2023.

The festival was held at the town square in the heart of Uvalde. There were all sorts of vendors, including those selling honey, made by the area’s bees.

At the park’s center, however, remained the wooden crosses with the names of those who died, along with photos and mementos from their lives.

Brian Kirkpatrick / Wooden crosses remain at the center of the Uvalde town square, where Uvalde held its 2023 Honey Fest.

And in the countryside around the town, bees were busy collecting nectar from wildflowers dotting the landscape, including from Guajillo brush, which produces what one beekeeper called a light, sweet, beautiful honey.

The beekeepers explained that honey has healing properties for humans — a quality Uvalde treasures more than ever before.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: ‘We are one big bee hive:’ Uvalde festival celebrates honey’s power to heal wounds and soothe souls | TPR

Winston Szeto · CBC News

The owner of Rushing River Apiaries in Terrace, B.C., announced last week that it had acquired 200 Carpathian queen bees from Ukraine. (Rushing River Apiaries)

A city in B.C.’s North Coast has become a buzzing haven for unique new visitors courtesy of a local beekeeper.

Christine McDonald, owner of Rushing River Apiaries in Terrace, B.C. — about 575 kilometres west of Prince George — recently took to social media to share her delight over the arrival of 200 Carpathian queen bees and 1,000 accompanying worker bees to her farm from Ukraine, through a beekeeping equipment company in Ontario.

McDonald says she acquired 200 plastic cages of the queen bees, each also containing five worker bees and food.

“I knew that these Carpathians are well known for their rugged survival like mountain honey bees, and also being very gentle,” McDonald told host Carolina de Ryk on CBC’s Daybreak North.

“Those are the two qualities that we value a lot, especially because we sell these to newer beekeepers, and we want them to be able to comfortably work with their bees.”

Imports to Canada since 2020

The Carpathian bees get their name from the Carpathian Mountains, a 1,500-kilometre range spanning Central and Eastern Europe from the Czech Republic to Romania.

Alison McAfee, a honey bee specialist at the University of British Columbia, says Ukraine has a thriving beekeeping industry involving over 600,000 people — approximately 1.5 per cent of the country’s population — working with apiaries. Ukraine ranks among the top five honey exporters globally in terms of weight.

In 2020, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) granted approval for Ukraine to export queen bees to Canada.

Prior to Russia’s invasion in 2022, which devastated apiaries throughout Ukraine and displaced tens of thousands of beekeepers, the CFIA also authorized the importation of bee packages consisting of a queen bee, several thousands of worker bees, and a brood of larvae in a hive box.

The federal agency says it has issued six permits for importing queen bees from Ukraine this year so far, and some permit holders distribute the bees to apiaries across Canada.

Bees are pictured in June 2022 at an apiary outside Melitopol, Ukraine. (Yuri Kadobnov/AFP via Getty Images)

Dancing Bee Equipment, based in Port Hope, Ont., is among distributors of Carpathian queen bees. Individual buyers must travel to Ontario to collect the bees at the airport or the company’s warehouse, while commercial buyers can request a shipment of the bees.

CEO Todd Kalisz says the company has imported over 20,000 queen bees from Ukraine since the start of the war, acknowledging the logistical challenges caused by the ongoing conflict.

“There’s no advance notice of the [shipping] schedule … it could change the day after,” he said, adding some customers who failed to check the updated schedule were disappointed after making the long drive to Ontario, only to discover their orders hadn’t arrived.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Queen bees from Ukraine find a sweet new home in northwestern B.C. | CBC News

Beekeeping is an Example

NEWS PROVIDED BY

CGTN (Chinese Global Television Network)

BEIJING /PRNewswire/ — Liu Jinliang, a second-generation beekeeper in Miyun District, the northeastern suburb of Beijing, practices multi-box beekeeping. He is China’s first beekeeper to successfully utilize the technique, introduced by the district government in 2016.

It took the young bee farmer five years to fully implement the new technique, and now it is helping his family and local beekeepers live a “sweet” life.

Spurred on by Liu and the local government, around 30 percent of bee farmers in Miyun have now adopted the new technique, greatly boosting the output and quality of their honey. Over 360 low-income farmers in Miyun have shaken off poverty since joining the beekeeping project.

“Through my example, I can motivate people around me. And those people can empower other people around them as well. In this way, we can achieve common prosperity,” Liu told CGTN.

The beekeeping industry in Miyun generated around 130 million yuan ($18.91 million) in revenue in 2020, an increase of 19.3 percent over 2019. Encouraged by what has been achieved in Miyun, more and more bee farmers across China have turned to the multi-box beekeeping technique to raise their honey output while improving quality.

Chinese President Xi Jinping once quoted an ancient Chinese proverb, “The key to running a country is to first enrich the people,” to explain why the country is striving for common prosperity. Liu’s story gives a glimpse of China’s exploration of the paths to achieve that goal.

People-centered philosophy

The saying, which comes from Shiji, or Records of the Grand Historian, a monumental history book of ancient China compiled about 2,000 years ago, sets forth the traditional Chinese philosophy of governance: the common people are considered the foundation of a country, and only when the people prosper can the country prosper.

This is a classic piece of Chinese wisdom, and it has become part of the governance philosophy of the Chinese government in modern times.

When quoting the saying at a gathering to mark China’s poverty alleviation accomplishments and honor model poverty fighters, President Xi pledged the country would adhere to the people-centered development philosophy and unswervingly follow the path of common prosperity.

“We have always remained committed to standing on the side of the people and consistently stressed that eradicating poverty, improving people’s lives, and achieving common prosperity represent the essential requirements of socialism,” said Xi.

Behind Liu’s success is the Miyun district government. It has helped local beekeepers learn advanced apiculture techniques and provided them with high-quality queen bees at no charge.

To better help beekeepers, the district government has also provided financial aid to support about 30 projects in the sector, with an investment of about 100 million yuan, to help make commercial beekeeping standardized and industrialized.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-06-05/Why-does-China-stick-to-the-path-of-common-prosperity–1kob98IUhB6/index.html

https://youtu.be/Lom4HnpR2xI

Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lom4HnpR2xI

SOURCE CGTN

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: CGTN: Why does China stick to the path of common prosperity? (prnewswire.com)

Todd Harmer

Without bees, there is no food, so keeping hives healthy is of utmost importance. That job is becoming more difficult thanks to an outbreak of disease and the effects of climate change.

That’s where special apiary inspectors come in, who check on the health of keepers’ bees to help prevent the spread of honeybee diseases and pests.

Marie Cairns, a bee keeper who runs a small apiary in the Cowichan Valley, had her hives checked on Friday by Tara Galpin, an apiary inspector for South Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.

“First of all, it was all about the pollination, but then the more you learn about bees the more fascinating they are,” Cairns said.

Cairns has been bee keeping in the valley for nine years. She got her inspection for free, as any bee keeper can, so she can sell some of her hive.

“You have bees and you want your own bees to stay healthy, so you want their bees to be healthy because they fly and bring back disease if you don’t or mites or anything else,” she said.

Galpin is looking for a few different diseases and pests. One that comes up often is the varroa mite, a parasitic mite that feeds on honey bees and causes a disease called varroosis.

“They feed out the fat body of the bee, so it’s like if we had the size of a rat on our human body feeding on our liver,” Galpin explained.

Unfortunately, Cairns’ bees had too many mites. “My first time failing,” she said.

But this experienced bee keeper is unfazed, and will work with the inspector to apply the appropriate treatment.

Galpin says unpredictable spring weather due to climate change—that have been cooler and damper—is helping to spread fungal disease and doesn’t allow bees to forage for food when they need it most.

Keeping bees in good shape is important, as along with other native pollinators they play a key role in sustaining B.C.’s food system, and contribute an estimated $250 million to the province’s economy.

The inspector says losses this year in bee colonies is between 30 to 40 per cent—climate change and the spread of disease keeping the pressure on bees and their keepers.

“More than anything, we need diversity of plants for our bees to forage from and diversity in our food landscapes,” she said.

Importing bees plays a major role in maintaining the bee population across Canada, and combined with the work of inspectors like Galpin, they’re ensuring bees keep food on our table.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Disease and climate change put pressure on bees and their keepers: apiary inspector | CTV News

• Associated Press

Beekeepers from Best Bees inspect two hives on the roof of the Warren Rudman U.S. Court House

CONCORD, N.H. — While judges, lawyers and support staff at the federal courthouse in Concord, New Hampshire, keep the American justice system buzzing, thousands of humble honeybees on the building’s roof are playing their part in a more important task — feeding the world.

The Warren Rudman U.S. Court House, in Concord, N.H. The roof of the building hosts two bee hives, a part of a national effort to increase the population of pollinators.

The Warren B. Rudman courthouse is one of several federal facilities around the country participating in the General Services Administration’s Pollinator Initiative, a government program aimed at assessing and promoting the health of bees and other pollinators, which are critical to life on Earth.

“Anybody who eats food, needs bees,” said Noah Wilson-Rich, co-founder, CEO and chief scientific officer of the Boston-based Best Bees company, which contracts with the government to take care of the honeybee hives at the New Hampshire courthouse and at some other federal buildings.

Bees help pollinate the fruits and vegetables that sustain humans, he said. They pollinate hay and alfalfa, which feed cattle that provide the meat we eat. And they promote the health of plants that, through photosynthesis, give us clean air to breathe.

Yet the busy insects that contribute an estimated $25 billion to the U.S. economy annually are under threat from diseases, agricultural chemicals and habitat loss that kill about half of all honeybee hives annually. Without human intervention, including beekeepers creating new hives, the world could experience a bee extinction that would lead to global hunger and economic collapse, Wilson-Rich said.

The pollinator program is part of the federal government’s commitment to promoting sustainability, which includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting climate resilient infrastructure, said David Johnson, the General Services Administration’s sustainability program manager for New England.

The GSA’s program started last year with hives at 11 sites.

Some of those sites are no longer in the program. Hives placed at the National Archives building in Waltham, Massachusetts, last year did not survive the winter.

Since then, other sites were added. Two hives, each home to thousands of bees, were placed on the roof of the Rudman building in March.

The program is collecting data to find out whether the honeybees, which can fly 3 to 5 miles from the roof in their quest for pollen, can help the health of not just the plants on the roof, but also of the flora in the entire area, Johnson said.

“Honeybees are actually very opportunistic,” he said. “They will feed on a lot of different types of plants.”

The program can help identify the plants and landscapes beneficial to pollinators and help the government make more informed decisions about what trees and flowers to plant on building grounds.

Best Bees tests the plant DNA in the honey to get an idea of the plant diversity and health in the area, Wilson-Rich said, and they have found that bees that forage on a more diverse diet seem to have better survival and productivity outcomes.

Other federal facilities with hives include the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services headquarters in Baltimore; the federal courthouse in Hammond, Indiana; the Federal Archives Records Center in Chicago; and the Denver Federal Center.

The federal government isn’t alone in its efforts to save the bees. The hives placed at federal sites are part of a wider network of about 1,000 hives at home gardens, businesses and institutions nationwide that combined can help determine what’s helping the bees, what’s hurting them and why.

The GSA’s Pollinator Initiative is also looking to identify ways to keep the bee population healthy and vibrant and model those lessons at other properties — both government and private sector — said Amber Levofsky, the senior program advisor for the GSA’s Center for Urban Development.

“The goal of this initiative was really aimed at gathering location-based data at facilities to help update directives and policies to help facilities managers to really target pollinator protection and habitat management regionally,” she said.

And there is one other benefit to the government honeybee program that’s already come to fruition: the excess honey that’s produced is donated to area food banks.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Honeybee Health Blooming at Federal Facilities Across US (voanews.com)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking an important step to determine whether the herbicide dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA) can continue to be used safely in light of significant health risks identified. The Agency is releasing and requesting public comment on an Occupational and Residential Exposure (ORE) assessment on pesticide products containing DCPA, showing risks to workers and others exposed to the pesticide, with the most serious of risks to the fetuses of pregnant individuals. Additionally, EPA is releasing a companion document summarizing EPA’s ongoing review of DCPA, the health risks the Agency has identified, and potential next steps for the Agency. Given the potential for serious, permanent, and irreversible health risks, EPA is considering whether feasible mitigation measures exist that would address these potential risks or whether canceling the registration of all products containing DCPA is necessary. Given the potential that cancellation of this pesticide could take several years to complete, EPA is releasing this assessment in order to provide the public with timely information about its risks.

Background on DCPA

DCPA is an herbicide registered to control weeds in both agricultural and non-agricultural settings. Agricultural crops include cole crops (e.g., broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage), onions, and other vegetables. Non-agricultural uses include non-residential turf and ornamentals.

DCPA is currently undergoing registration review, a process that requires re-evaluation of registered pesticides every 15 years to ensure that as the ability to assess risk evolves and as policies and practices change, pesticides continue to meet the statutory standard of causing no unreasonable adverse effects on human health or the environment.

The data EPA examined showed that the dose that caused adverse effects in the fetuses of pregnant rats exposed to DCPA was very low, and these effects were observed at a dose lower than the dose that affected the pregnant rats themselves. Significant thyroid hormone changes were observed in the fetuses in a 2022 study that EPA had ordered the registrant for DCPA to conduct in 2013. In general, changes in fetal thyroid hormones are linked to low birth weight, impaired brain development, decreased IQ, and impaired motor skills observed later in life. These thyroid hormone effects are harmful to the fetuses of individuals of child-bearing age that could be exposed to DCPA. The differences in the doses affecting the pregnant rats and their fetuses, extrapolated to humans, mean that a pregnant individual could be exposed to DCPA without experiencing adverse health effects to their own body, while the fetus being carried could experience permanent and significant lifelong adverse effects.

In 2013, the Agency issued a Data Call-In to the pesticide registrant, AMVAC, requiring it to submit more than 20 studies to support the existing registrations of DCPA. Between 2013 and 2021, numerous studies submitted by AMVAC were deemed insufficient by the Agency, and some studies, including the thyroid toxicity test, had not been submitted. In April 2022, EPA issued a Notice of Intent to Suspend (NOITS) for the DCPA technical-grade (high-concentration) product based on the registrant’s failure to submit the complete set of required data, leaving large uncertainties in risk estimates, including data on DCPA’s thyroid toxicity. In August 2022, after the issuance of the NOITS, the Agency received the thyroid toxicity data that showed the significant changes in the fetal thyroid effects discussed above.

Occupational and Residential Exposure Assessment and Companion Document

The Agency found that based on the currently allowed uses of DCPA, there is potential for some people to be exposed to DCPA at levels approaching those that, based on the rat thyroid toxicity test, are expected to result in adverse effects in humans. For the most common uses of DCPA, there are risks of concern for workers applying and supporting applications of DCPA, using typical equipment at the maximum application rate, even when personal protective equipment and engineering controls are used. There are specific concerns for the fetuses of pregnant individuals who apply DCPA. Based on current labels, some pregnant individuals could be subjected to exposures from 10 to 1,500 times greater than what is considered safe.

Furthermore, risks to fetuses of individuals entering areas where DCPA has already been applied (post-application workers involved in tasks such as transplanting, weeding, and harvesting) are of concern. In addition, living near areas treated with DCPA could also put the fetuses of pregnant individuals at risk. While DCPA does not appear to be widely used on turf, based on the current label directions that allow such use, there are also potential risks of concern for individuals using turf golf courses and athletic fields long after DCPA is applied. The labels currently specify that entry into treated fields must be restricted for 12 hours after application. However, for many crops and tasks, levels of DCPA in the previously treated fields remain of concern for 30 days or more.

In addition to the ORE assessment, EPA is releasing a companion document that summarizes the Agency’s findings from the thyroid toxicity data received in response to a DCPA Generic Data Call-in and explains the regulatory approach the Agency is considering to address the risks identified in the ORE assessment, in line with the Agency’s commitment to sound science and protecting human health. EPA is also publishing relevant supporting documents, including an analysis of the benefits associated with the use of DCPA. Given the breadth and severity of the potential risks identified by the Agency, the Agency’s current efforts are to determine whether effective and feasible mitigation strategies exist to fully address these risks, and barring any new information provided by public comments, the Agency is considering whether cancelation of all uses and registrations for products containing DCPA is necessary.

EPA will carefully consider public input when addressing these risks. The Agency is committed to transparency as it moves forward with regulatory action on DCPA and will keep the public advised of prospective actions in the registration review process for DCPA.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: https://www.epa.gov/pesticides/epa-releases-risk-assessment-showing-significant-risks-human-health-herbicide-dcpa

Irelands Minister Hackett launches the National Apiculture Programme 2023 – 2027

From Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

The Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett, today launched the National Apiculture Programme supporting the Beekeeper Sector in Ireland.

Launching the Programme the Minister said:

“I am delighted to announce the introduction of the new National Apiculture Programme which will run until the end of 2027. This Programme, which supports research into production standards, demonstrates my department’s continued support to the beekeeping sector in Ireland.”

Support for beekeeping is provided through National Apiculture Programmes which aim through approved applied research projects to improve the general conditions for the production of honey and other apiculture products in the EU. Researchers are invited to submit proposals for the new National Apiculture Programme which will run until 31 December 2027.

The aims of the programme are to:

• provide technical assistance to beekeepers
• combat beehive invaders and diseases, particularly varroasis
• co-operate with specialist bodies for the implementation of applied research programmes in the field of beekeeping and apiculture products

All suitable bodies that can demonstrate the necessary research capabilities, including Universities, Institutes of Technology and Teagasc, are eligible to submit proposals. Projects that involve collaboration between institutions and/or involve the development of critical mass are encouraged.

The deadline for receipt of applications for this call is Friday 30 June 2023. Queries relating to the National Apiculture Programme 2023-2027 can be emailed to beekeeping@agriculture.gov.i

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: gov.ie – Minister Hackett launches the National Apiculture Programme 2023 – 2027 (www.gov.ie)

by Scarlett Howard, Alexander Mikheyev, Emily Remnant, Simon Tierney and Théotime Colin, The Conversation

Credit: Théotime Colin, Author provided Varroa mites—notorious honey bee parasites—have recently reached Australian shores, detected at the Port of Newcastle in New South Wales last year. If they establish here, there would be significant implications for agricultural food security, as honey bees are heavily relied on for the pollination of many crops.

However, while Australia is the last continent to be invaded by the mite, it has an opportunity to be the first to eradicate it.

Varroa destructor is a small mite that attaches to bees and eats their “fat body.” The fat bodies of honey bees are the insect equivalent of a liver. Varroa weakens bees, reduces their lifespan and increases the spread of deadly viruses.

Scientists need to be ready: this might be Australia’s best chance to collect important data on the spread and evolution of this parasite. Our new paper published today in Biology Letters outlines what questions scientists need to ask and what data they need to collect if Varroa spreads in Australia.

Such data could help us understand how parasites evolve, why Varroa are so damaging for honey bees, and how Varroa mites impact other insects and the environment.

Will Varroa establish in Australia?

Australia is in close proximity to countries that have the mite, including New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Indonesia.

This probably explains why invasive honey bee swarms are frequently intercepted at our ports, many of these carrying Varroa. Australia currently bans importation of honey bee colonies due to the biosecurity risk, so these interceptions are typically due to stowaway swarms taking up residence in shipping containers.

Previous invasions of Varroa have been successfully eradicated before establishing, but this time Varroa circumvented the biosecurity surveillance near Newcastle and spread locally.

The New South Wales Department of Primary Industries has been contact-tracing and culling hives in contaminated areas, and the spread has been slow so far. Australia has large populations of feral honey bees, which could potentially act as a reservoir for Varroa and are much harder to trace and control, so the department is tackling this with a wild honey bee baiting program.

What threats does Varroa pose?

Varroa mites are a threat to food security. Although Australia has an abundance of food and exports it to other nations, the price of food is likely to increase if Varroa escapes confinement.

Currently, pollination of crops in eradication zones such as berries in Coffs Harbor is at risk due to the removal of all honey bees in the region, which may lead to short-term increases in food costs.

Australia currently relies on pollination by commercial honey bees (yellow), supplemented by feral honey bees (brown), though we have many native bee species like stingless bees and blue banded bees that are also being used in crop pollination. Credit: Boris Yagound, adapted from Chapman et al. 2023, CC BY

However, establishment and spread of Varroa will lead to lower pollination and lower crop production across the country, which will raise the price of most fruit and vegetables that depend on bee pollination.

This could worsen the food affordability crises caused by the current inflation, affecting the ability of low income households to buy nutritious and fresh produce. Almond pollination has already noted a deficit of 80,000 hives in the last season.

Many of the honey bee colonies that pollinate our crops are thought to be feral, living in tree hollows or nest-boxes designed for native animals. These feral bees are not managed by beekeepers and so won’t be saved by the use of Varroa treatments, meaning they will most likely disappear.

To read the complete article go to; Opinion: Australia is in a unique position to eliminate the bee-killing Varroa mite. Here’s what happens if we don’t (phys.org)

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Opinion: Australia is in a unique position to eliminate the bee-killing Varroa mite. Here’s what happens if we don’t (phys.org)

Jamie Morton

Varroa mites are responsible for the loss of tens of thousands of hives in New Zealand each year, killing countless bees like this one. Photo / Supplied

A destructive mite plaguing our beekeeping industry may have been building up home-grown resistance to a widely used chemical pesticide, a new study suggests.

Flumethrin has long been a key tool for controlling varroa, but when researchers recently assessed its mite-killing performance at one apiary, they found concentrations of it needed to be 13 times higher than two decades ago.

They say the findings, just released ahead of peer review, warrant further investigation to see if miticide resistance is a wider, hidden problem for the $5 billion industry.

Since being first detected back in 2000, the varroa destructor mite has become the sector’s biggest headache, each year accounting for nearly half of colony losses and costing more than $1 million in mitigation efforts and lost honey production.

The new study, led by PhD student Rose McGruddy and co-authored by Lester, focused on two key chemical pesticides used for varroa control.

They were flumethrin and amitraz – estimated to be used by 78 and 85 per cent of commercial beekeepers respectively.

Typically, they applied one product in early spring, and another in late summer or early autumn.

“Mite resistance to flumethrin may help explain why the mite problem is getting worse,” Victoria University ecologist Professor Phil Lester says. Photo / Supplied

“We’ve heard differing reports of the effectiveness of chemical pesticides, especially flumethrin,” Lester said.

“The nationwide survey and Rose’s data suggest most beekeepers are satisfied with it.

“But there are others who think this product is much less effective than it used to be – some even stating it has failed to control varroa entirely.”

Unlike in the past, some beekeepers were now using more than two applications of it, he said.

In the study, the researchers drew on years of survey data, along with their own laboratory tests of pesticides.

“The key result was that we found that the concentration of flumethrin needed to kill mites was 13-times higher than it was in 2005,” Lester said.

“This result indicates that mites appear to have and are developing resistance to this chemical.”

There was no evidence of any resistance to amitraz, which is another key pesticide for mite control, as it appeared to be effective, he said.

The study team stressed this result didn’t mean that commercial products containing flumethrin didn’t work – and they might still be useful for mite control for many beekeepers.

“We’d also note that the mites we used for this work were from the Wellington region and we can’t be sure that selection for resistance has occurred everywhere equally,” he said.

“But the big implication is that resistance does seem to have developed. It could explain the limited success of control using flumethrin reported to us by beekeepers.

“Mite resistance to flumethrin may help explain why the mite problem is getting worse.”

While varroa resistance to the chemical had been observed around the world, the study team didn’t find any of the same genetic markers of resistance identified in overseas studies.

“The New Zealand resistance development seems to be via a different pathway for the New Zealand population of mites,” Lester said.

The study raised several questions that urgently needed answering: namely, whether such “home-grown” was occurring more widely and, if so, how.

More broadly, Lester felt new products were needed for mite control, with novel modes of action – such as new “gene-silencing” approaches his own group was researching.

“We need to carefully manage resistance, by ensuring good integrated pest management procedures, which include alternating control methods,” he said.

“New methods are desperately needed.”

The industry’s peak body, Apiculture New Zealand, also said the study’s findings needed to be interpreted with caution.

“Because there has been growing discussion that resistance to treatments may be an issue in New Zealand, this research is of interest,” it told the Herald in a statement.

“However, although these lab concentrations differ to what was detected in 2003, they remain lower than what was detected in international apiaries with resistant varroa.

“Additionally, we note that the varroa tested in this research was collected from one apiary so it may not represent all regions.”

The group said this needed to be fully tested before any conclusions could be made regarding chemical resistance.

“As outlined by the researchers and by ApiNZ and our experts, the key to varroa management is ensuring the control methods are conducted as per label and rotated between treatment groups,” it said.

“Untreated colonies die. This does not change.”

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Has the destructive varroa been building ‘home-grown’ pesticide resistance in NZ? – NZ Herald

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

A student of Master of Entomology shows a beehive frame at a research farm in the Chakwal district of Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province on April 11, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)

As ironclad brothers, the Chinese government is happy to share the advanced technology of beekeeping and honey-processing with Pakistani people to promote the beekeeping industry and improve people’s livelihood, said Pang Chunxue, charge d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan.

by Misbah Saba Malik

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan has a huge potential in honey production but due to multiple factors local beekeepers are facing challenges that can be overcome by following the Chinese style of bee-keeping, experts said.

Speaking at the China-Pakistan Apiculture Forum on Thursday, Pakistani and Chinese experts said the Pak-China apiculture cooperation is a way forward toward a successful honey production sector of Pakistan.

Nadia Rehman, a member of food security and climate change of Pakistan’s Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, told the webinar that such cooperation will lead to knowledge sharing, research collaboration and technology transfer, and result in enhanced honey yield in the South Asian country.

She added that 390,000 people in Pakistan are involved in beekeeping and produce over 4,000 tons of honey annually, and if they adopt modern technologies, honey production can surge to 70,000 tons a year and create about 87,000 green jobs.

Speaking at the event, Muhammad Naeem, vice chancellor of Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University in Rawalpindi, said many people from rural areas of Pakistan are associated with beekeeping which becomes a profitable business and a great source of livelihood.

The annual yield per colony was 30 to 35 kg, but recently due to climate change effects it decreased to 10 to 12 kg, posing a serious challenge for beekeepers to continue the business, he said.

Naeem added that to help Pakistani beekeepers overcome the challenge, his university is helping them not only to increase the yield but also find alternative ways to earn money, by introducing Chinese technology.

Now a training course on beekeeping and honey processing technology for Pakistan is being held in which 39 participants from different universities, research institutes, beekeeping associations, honey traders, and beekeepers are getting the most advanced knowledge of beekeeping from Chinese professors, Naeem said.

“As China is playing a leading role in the research and development of beekeeping in the world, the knowledge sharing by Chinese experts regarding modern beekeeping techniques can be very useful for Pakistani beekeepers and the scientific community,” he added.

A student of Master of Entomology extracts royal jelly from a Chinese-styled hive at a research farm in the Chakwal district of Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province on April 11, 2023. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)

Pang Chunxue, charge d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, told the webinar that agriculture is one of pillar industries of Pakistan and a key area for bilateral cooperation between China and Pakistan.

“Agricultural cooperation is crucial to the high-quality development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. China is committed to supporting Pakistan in revitalizing its agriculture, livestock, dairy, fisheries and food processing sectors to attain sustainable growth and meet the challenge of poverty alleviation,” she added.

The honey produced in Pakistan enjoys a good reputation for its unique taste and high quality for a long time, but has been suffering from problems of low production, low price and small scale, she said.

Pang added that China has a history of beekeeping for more than 2,000 years and is one of the earliest countries in the world to raise bees. Nowadays the beekeeping industry in China has developed rapidly and exports of related products rank top in the world.

“As ironclad brothers, the Chinese government is happy to share the advanced technology of beekeeping and honey-processing with Pakistani people to promote the beekeeping industry and improve people’s livelihood,” she said.

President of the Apicultural Science Association of China Wu Jie said that the association is willing to work with beekeeping research institutes and universities in Pakistan to strengthen cooperation, and promote common development and prosperity of the beekeeping industry in China and Pakistan.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Pakistani apiculture sector to thrive with Chinese know-how-Xinhua (news.cn)