AFB Found In South Africa. Antibiotics Not Being Considered, Yet.
By Alan Harman
American Foulbrood has been found in South Africa for the first time and authorities are mulling an eradication program.
The disease, caused by the spore-forming bacterium Paenibacillus larvae, has never been previously reported in sub-Saharan Africa.
Department of Agriculture plant health director Alice Baxter says AFB was found during a survey by the Plant Protection Research Institute (PPRI) of the Agricultural Research Council of honeybee colonies and retail honey in South Africa for the presence of the disease.
Mike Allsopp, head of the Honeybee Research Section at the PPRIs Agricultural Research Center, became aware of the disease when a beekeeper experienced problems with unhealthy colonies.
It was first thought to be European Foul Brood, which hit Western Cape apiaries last year, but tests at PPRI’s laboratory in Pretoria came up positive for AFB.
Standard operating procedures for eradicating the disease is to burn the hive, including the bees, wax, frames and honey, and bury the ashes.
Infected apiaries could face a quarantine of up to 18 months.
“The bad news is that AFB has now been found in some colonies and some apiaries in the Western Cape,” Baxter says. “The disease has been confirmed using all standard diagnostic tests, and the identification is considered to be entirely reliable.”
The Western Cape is a province in the southwest of the country. Its capital is Cape Town, the country’s main aviation hub. Until 1994, Western Cape was part of the huge Cape Province.
“At present it is not known how serious or extensive the disease outbreak is, but a precautionary approach requires that we consider there to be the potential for a full-scale AFB outbreak in South Africa, and to act accordingly,” Baxter says.
It’s not known how AFB entered South Africa. All imported honey and honeybee products are irradiated in a regime designed to block its entry and it’s thought untreated honey smuggled into the country could be the source.
The Department of Agriculture has been conducting an urgent but extensive delimiting survey of the Western Cape to determine how widespread and extensive the AFB infection is, and particularly, whether it is present in the wild honeybee population.
“Once the extent and distribution of the AFB presence is known, the DoA in consultation with organized beekeeping and other stakeholders will decide on the appropriate course of action to be followed,” Baxter says. “This is likely to entail an attempt to quarantine and eradicate the disease.”
In the interim, beekeepers are strongly urged to adapt extreme precautionary measures so as to not spread the disease further, and to prevent their apiaries from contracting the disease. This applies to all beekeepers in South Africa, but particularly those in the Western Cape.
They have been advised to keep all apiaries distinct from each other and not move honeybee colonies from apiary to apiary; not to place colonies in the near proximity of colonies belonging to other beekeepers; not to move equipment (brood boxes, supers, frames) from apiary to apiary, or from colony to colony; to sterilize all beekeeping equipment (hive tools, gloves) with alcohol or boiling water after use; not to put out wet supers for bees to feed from; not to feed colonies with anything containing honey or pollen; keep robbing to an absolute minimum, and hence, keep beekeeping management to a minimum. Subscribe to the Apis Newsletterwww.apis.shorturl.com Beekeepers are being urged to contact Allsopp if they consider their colonies either infected with AFB or have shown any symptoms in the past six months.
Allsopp tells Bee Culture he is trying to complete a scientific report on the outbreak before the end of this month.
“So far it is only in the Western Cape, but already spread over some 200 kilometers (125 miles), and in at least four or five commercial beekeeping operations,” he says.
“No decision yet on the course of action to be taken, but we should know quite soon.”
Allsopp says antibiotics are unlikely to be an option.
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“A couple of beekeepers want to use them, but I don't think it is an option that is being seriously considered,” he says. “All advice that we have received (including from the U.S.) is for us to not go that route.”
This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping
Minneapolis takes a step towards ending a 34-year ban and allowing beekeeping within city limits.
The council's Public Safety and Regulatory Services Committee voted unanimously for a city ordinance allowing anyone living on 1/2 acre or less to have up to two bee colonies.
A lot larger than 1/2 acre but smaller than 3/4 acre can have four colonies; larger than 3/4 acre lot but smaller than one acre six colonies; one acre but smaller than five acres eight colonies;
For lots larger than five acres the number will be decided by the MACC manager.
Consent from all abutting property owners would be required, plus 80% of owners within 100 feet of the keeper's lot. The bee area would have to be fenced, with flyways devised with barriers of at least six feet to get bees to altitude quickly when the hive is less than 25 feet from a property line.
The ordinance requires would-be beekeepers to pay $100 for a permit and then $50 a year for a licence. Applicants would have to meet an educational requirement before getting the permit. Minneapolis Animal Care and Control (MACC) will inspect the premises at least annually.
The committee vote came after MACC spent eight months researching the topic and spoke with a number of individuals. In particular, University of Minnesota Prof. Marla Spivak provided significant information and feedback on the proposed ordinance. Spivak is nationally recognized for her work with honeybees.
MACC also spoke to Bill Stephenson from St. Paul Animal Control. Beekeeping is permitted in St. Paul and Stephenson says the greatest investment of time is the initial permit, but after that they have seen few issues.
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Beekeepers serving the community by removing a swarm or swarms of honeybees from locations where they are not desired will not be considered in violation of the law limiting the number of colonies while housing the swarm on the apiary lot for no more than 30 days.
The full council will vote on the proposal April 25.
This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping
If there is one eternal truth in beekeeping, it’s that committed beekeepers always get a bit nervous when someone else inspects their hive, especially if that someone else has kept bees even one week longer. I’ve got a few years on Charlie bee-wise, but not that many. Even so, it makes my heart get all warm to see such concerns, because only people who really care have them. And the bees do so much better in the hands of those who care. Which is my way of saying that Charlie let me have a look at the White House honeybees today. Thanks, Charlie!
Before I go on, this needs to be said: everything touching on that particular place tends to get wrapped up in spotlights and drama, and there is a real danger of feeling self-important or personally special just because of that place and this time. When I share this with you, please keep in mind what this is really about: the bees, and their way of both supporting our environment and inspiring great wonder in those who look after them. I feel that we all owe Charlie a whole lot, and I want him and the Obamas (remember, it’s their back yard right now!) and Sam Kass (whose garden project makes it all possible) to get their credit, too. But I bet you want a look in, too.
This is how you work the White House bees: on a board set on two sawhorses, so you are high enough to work the top super of a hive that sits on a four foot hive stand. It helps to coordinate your movements and to balance anything you are up to with the other person up there! It is a surprisingly stable solution, with the plus that the bees that fall during a manipulation don’t end up getting stomped, and you don’t have to tuck in your socks to keep them from crawling up a pants leg! One unforeseen benefit of the hive scaffold: it is really easy to look up through the screened bottom board to see where/how tight the bees are clustering.
As you might imagine, a couple of key concerns for bees in this location are swarm control, and monitoring temperament. Our visit today was mostly around the former; to keep tabs on how they are building up and reverse the hive bodies if that seemed useful, and to make sure there were enough supers in place for the current and soon-to-be-upcoming nectar flow.
To my mind, Charlie’s queen is a good one for the job. The bees were extremely peaceful and gentle, and her pattern was OK, though not gangbusters. In a situation like this, I am all for the happy medium in terms of brood production! The drone brood was in the right place; she seemed to lay more from right to left than in a spiral starting in the center of the frame.
When we opened some drone brood, there was a minimal presence of varroa. There were no k-wings and I saw no mites on bees. The hive has three medium supers with drawn comb; there is a fair amount of nectar in the first two, so Charlie is out ahead of this one. They had put aside some honey down below, but I am seeing that at home, too. Nice white cappings.
Finally, as I was saying goodbye, Charlie got a call about another swarm at the north gate! I said I would take it if accessible. So we checked it out. It was clearly a second swarm, probably thrown off of the same nearby hive that produced the famous one last week: about 2 pounds (1 kg) of bees. Since I am giving away a split this weekend, I thought my friend might want this queen to go with it!
Charlie got me a box, poked some holes in it with a nail, and we borrowed some bolt cutters from the carpentry shop to lop a small limb off the swarm bush. Sorry bush! He sealed the box shut with blue gaffer’s tape.
To visit the White House Bees with Toni, visit her blog at http://citybees.blogspot.com. And watch for the May issue of Bee Culture, with an interview with Charlie, the White House beekeeper.The message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeepingwww.BeeCulture.com
--You Can Build a Chicken Tractor - Now in print for just $12.95!
--Successful Homesteading Now in Print
--The Future of Food
Powerful and empowering information you don't want to miss. So read on!
It's Finally Here! You Can Build a Chicken Tractor
If you've ever thought of keeping free range chickens in a chicken tractor, this book is for you! In addition to providing full plans and giving you step by step instructions on how to build your own chicken tractor, this handy guide gives tons of great tips, including great sources of free wood, how to recover your costs by selling chicks, chicken care and egg recipes. All for the great low price of $12.95. Ready to buy? Click here.
I've gotten requests from readers asking for a printed version of the back issues of Successful Homesteading. If you are interested in purchasing these printed versions, you can purchase them here.
The Future of Food
I recently watched a fascinating interview of Deborah Koons Garcia, former wife of Jerry Garcia (of the Grateful Dead) and a filmmaker in her own right. She wrote, produced and directed the film, The Future of Food. During that interview, she brought up some disturbing points about the food that we, as a nation, are eating.
It turns out that the FDA has given virtual carte blanche approval of genetically engineered food in this country despite the fact that there has been no real testing of the long range consequences of consuming this food. And by the way, if you think you've never eaten any genetically modified food, you're wrong. Genetically engineered food is in a large amount of the processed foods produced and sold within the United States today, and it is making all of us pretty sick.
According to Garcia, corn, cotton, soy and canola are all now being genetically engineered in the U.S. If things don't change, we could end up have nothing but genetically altered food, endangering our already fragile health and making us more prone to disease, allergies and asthma.
So how can we fight back and protect our health, as well as stop the Frankenstein food that corporations are trying to slip to us unawares? Here are a few tips from Garcia:
Cook From Scratch
It doesn't take much longer to fix a meal at home than it would to get into your car, drive to a fast food restaurant, stand in line to make that purchase, and then drive home again. Pursue the art of frugal cooking. Buy your grains in bulk from local producers, and make your own bread and .
Buy Organic
Not only does money talk, but right now in America, it virtually screams. Choose to purchase organic, whole foods rather than the processed junk. With all the money you will be saving by making things from scratch, you will be able to afford the quality, organic items.
Learn to Grow Your Own Food Organically
Keep a compost pile, and learn to build up your soil, so that it is a living, healthy environment for your vegetables, rather than just dead dirt. Keep chickens or goats, and add their manure to your compost pile.
Buy Local
Instead of eating out, stop by your local farmer's market, buy good quality, locally produced fruits, vegetables and honey, and cook at home. That way you know you're getting good quality food and supporting farmers who refuse to turn their farms into genetically engineered food factories.
Sell Locally
Do you have a surplus of organically grown tomatoes or other vegetables? Consider selling them in your local farmer's market as well. You'll make some homesteading income and make the future of food in America brighter.
And as always, happy homesteading!
Like this issue of Successful Homesteading? Please forward it to a friend! And if a friend did forward this to you and you like what you read, please subscribe here.
Comments? Ideas? Feedback? I'd love to hear from you. Just reply to this zine and tell me what you think! And thanks!
Greenpeace China recently conducted a survey on vegetables sold in China's large cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The organization found many pesticide-ridden vegetables; some of them even carry cocktails of many highly poisonous pesticides.
In the Greenpeace China report titled, “Pesticide Cocktails: Have You Drunk Some Today?” the organization said that residents in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou almost drink a cup of pesticide cocktail from their fruits and veggies every day. Among the pesticides found, five of them cause cancer. The report also shows that 89 percent of the samples found in these three major cities have pesticide residues; 20 percent contain illegal and highly poisonous pesticides; 60 percent have residues of at least five kinds of pesticides.
A commodity inspection official in Guangdong province said that the abuse of pesticides increased in recent years. “Farmers did not know much about pesticides eight or ten years ago. In recent years, the farmers started to focus more on economic returns and the appearance of the produce and apply pesticides heavily. Now the farmers don’t eat what they grow, they eat vegetables that require very little pesticide.”
Gao Dawei, a former professor of South China University of Technology who specializes in food additive chemicals, said that residues of multiple pesticides are more harmful to the human body than a single pesticide. “It’s a ‘synergetic effect’ as we call it in chemistry. A single chemical may not have much effect but several of them mixed together, cause the chemical reactions to amplify the effect. Most ingested poisons in the human body have such a kind of synergetic effect and hence a cocktail of poisons may cause more serious damage than a single one.”
However, Beijing published an official survey recently that states that 96 percent of vegetables in the city conform to national standards. According to a report in Beijing Daily on April 3, the Produce Safety Inspection Division of the Standing Committee of the Beijing People’s Congress announced that 96.75 percent of vegetables in Beijing passed safety inspections in 2008.
Gao, a commodity inspection official in Guangdong said that official inspections most of the time are not reliable because of the complex interests between the producers and inspectors. Gao said that China has very detailed regulations on produce pesticide residue but in reality they are not enforced.
“The (Chinese) standards were developed from international standards and are even stricter. However, when pests became (pesticide) resistant, the farmers must apply higher dosages. Natural disasters from pests have been getting worse these years and farmers will not have crops if they don’t use a lot of pesticides,” said Gao.
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To deal with the residues, Chinese people often choose to prolong the time of soaking and washing their produce. However, some pesticides cannot be cleaned this way according to Gao. “Water can only remove general water-soluble pesticides on the surface. I know at least two kinds of pesticides that can not be washed away. One of them is the acidic pesticides. They react with the produce and bind tightly to it. That is why approved detergents for vegetable cleaning often contain a little alkali. The other kind can permeate into the cells of the produce and nothing can wash it away.”
This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping
Tuesday, 12 May 2009 Central Beekeepers Alliance Meeting Agricultural Research Centre, Fredericton, NB 7:30 p.m.
Want to learn more about Beekeeping?
Central Beekeepers meet on the second Tuesday of the month. Visitors and new beekeepers are always welcome! Most meetings include an educational session, group discussion, or hands-on demonstration for the benefit of beginning beekeepers in central New Brunswick.
The Agricultural Research Centre ("Experimental Farm") is located at 850 Lincoln Road, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Entry is from the parking lot at the back of the building, at door "B". For a map to the Agricultural Research Centre, see our Next Meeting page.
Burt’s Bees and NAPPC Award New Honey Bee Health Research Grants
SAN FRANCISCO, CA March 19, 2009 – The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) has announced five grants totaling $40,000 for university-based scientists to study differing problems, each of which may be a key cause for the massive Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) among honey bees. The grants are part of NAPPC’s tri-national campaign to identify a cause for the disease now decimating bee populations vital to crop production, and to improve the health of honey bees through a variety of approaches.
“It is vital that we find avenues for successfully combating health threats to the honey bee, most importantly the devastating CCD problem, but also other deadly hazards such as Varroa mite infestation, growing nutritional challenges and environmental stressors that are very likely contributing factors in CCD,” said Laurie Davies Adams, Executive Director of the Pollinator Partnership, NAPPC’s managing organization. “Without millions of honey bees and myriad other threatened pollinators, crops and food sources that comprise every third bite of the food we eat and many of the products we use every day will be uncertain,” said John Replogle, President and C EO of Burt’s Bees.
Find out what's new at Mann Lake www.mannlakeltd.com/catchthebuzz/index.htumFunded by Burt’s Bees, the NAPPC grants support year-long research by scientists at WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis, the University of Florida, Texas A&M, OregonStateUniversity, and the University of Minnesota. The studies will cover food and fungal hazards; effects of pesticides; genetic influences; field testing for physiology and behavioral problems; and bee immune systems. Click Here for summaries for these studies as well as ongoing projects funded in 2008. Progress will be reported at the annual NAPPC International Summit to be held October 22-23, hosted this year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DCFor a Comprehensive listing of beekeeping events around the country and around the globe go to www.my.calendars.net/bee_culture/ list your event here send toTo info@BeeCulture.comThe Pollinator Partnership is unique in its commitment to dedicating every dollar donated for research to research. Donations are still needed and most welcome – gifts from $5 to $50,000 – and you can be certain that your funds specified for research will be spent solely for that purpose, to further the important cause of pollinator conservation/preservation. Click Here to learn how donations can be made to support honey bee research, or call 415-362-1137.Subscribe to the Apis newsletter www.apis.shorturl.comBurt’s Bees is an ongoing sponsor NAPPC’s “Honeybee Health Improvement Project” (HHIP). The HHIP task force is co-chaired by Danny Weaver, JD, former President of the American Beekeeping Federation, and Christina Grozinger, Ph.D., PennStateUniversity, and includes a number of respected researchers from across North America. NAPPC, a collaboration of over 130 environmental groups, government representatives, scientists, and corporate and private supporters from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, works to promote awareness and understanding of pollinators and to promote projects and initiatives to enhance pollinator conservation. This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeepingwww.BeeCulture.com
Rain continues to be on everyone’s mind again here in Gainesville, Florida. It rained a whole lot up north and the rivers here (Santa Fe and Suwanee) are bursting their banks, closing roads. Gainesville got some of this moisture, but still could use more. We also had a record-breaking cold snap a few days ago. Fortunately, folks were able to cover and preserve their incipient gardens and the bees took it all in stride.
I have received a few nice remarks about the Global Beekeeping Calendar initiative at http://my.calendars.net/bee_culture. The Apis Newsletter in conjunction with Bee Culture magazine continues this ambitious project is an attempt to collect all the events in the beekeeping world at one place. I would be interested in your reflections on this effort and keep forwarding to me entries as they arise.
Changes are occurring at The Speedy Bee, the Southeast’s premier beekeeping newspaper. It is going quarterly and will also have a World Wide Web page. I have developed a lens for this publication, linking some articles that I published a few years ago http://www.squidoo.com/Speedy_Bee.
Another survey by the Apiary Inspectors of America is being solicited by beekeepers. The results of this survey will be compiled and published so that everyone can see how bees are doing in the United States. These results, along with those from the past two years, will be used to secure research funding and assistance for Bee health. http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-2009.04.07.15.51.archive.html
Two interesting sites have grabbed my attention this month. For those who Speak Spanish, check out http://apiculturasinfronteras. It has an interview with my friendo from Mexico Enrique Carrilo who comment s on honey production in his country and the effects of adulteration there and the rest of the market. The latest on Chinese honey dumping is found at http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-2009.04.08.08.36.archive.html “Five American food product producers file a $1-billion lawsuit seeking class-action status against a handful of major insurance companies and the U.S. government for alleged damages caused by dumped Chinese food products. The five producers are Sioux Honey Association, Adee Honey Farms, Monterey Mushrooms Inc., The Garlic Co. and Beaucoup Crawfish of Eunice Inc.”
Finally, take a look at my collection of articles for this month at http://www.publish2.com/newsgroups/april-2009/. These include topics such as scientists having second thoughts about CCD and how bees and humans are similar when challenged with cocaine (see the alcohol example in this issue of Bee Culture), how bees brains work, citrus psyllid control, Wyman’s of Maine gives to bee research, bees at the White House and more.
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Gleanings from the April 2009 Bee Culture:
In response to Ann Harman’s article on categorizing beekeepers, Dennis Durham, Alexandria. VA writes that he thinks three categories are sufficient: amateurs, semi-professional and professional. Meanwhile Chris Sennotte, Luther, OK believes in simplicity, that “we are all beekeepers.” Felecia Smith, Fairgrove, MI enjoys each and every issue of Bee Culture. Melinda Nelson, Garden Grove, CA thinks it’s possible to manage feral and managed colonies of Africanized honey bees. Margot Boyer, Vashon Island , WA questions whether it’s correct to say that CCD is not caused by pesticides. Read editor Flottum’s reply.
Editor Flottum waxes about the need to keep to the basics and listen to what the bees hear. He also has some nice things to say about the joint South Carolina and North Carolina meetings just concluded in Rock Hill, SC.
New items for the beekeeper’s kit include the book of the Soil Science of America, Response of Crops to Limited Water: Understanding and Modeling Water Stress Effects on Plant Growth Processes, a new hive tool and top feeder from the Walter T. Kelley Company, a Varroa brush for K & W Apiary and the new Apitrack Producer Module. http://www.apitrack.com/. Also included are new labels from Brushy Mtn, snap together hive bodies from Mother Lode Products and the IBRA’s Journal of ApiProduct and ApiMedical Science.
Read the honey report revealing how both production and prices for honey are up. See why it’s a mixed picture for California next year.
Clarence Collison takes a closer look at Alarm Pheromone. Read why it’s a releaser pheromone and the importance of minimizing it for small hive beetle infestation.
Tom Seeley discusses water collection in honey bee colonies. Read how bees decide to collect water and what this means for allied foraging of nectar.
Larry Connor rants about silly rules concerning selling local honey and using soap as an insecticide. Don’t get him started on yellow jacket bees and “crimes against nature.”
Ross Conrad takes on spring reversal. Read what he says about delaying (not stopping) swarming is a possibility and when it should be considered.
Steve McDaniel takes on an easy non-chemical control of Varroa. It’s simple, he contends, to manage drone brood and at the same time provide needed protein to wild birds. A real win-win situation.
Jim Tew, just off his surgery, writes about package bees. Read why he thinks some should look into becoming package bee producers in the future.
Walt Wright mentions that even the so-called “experts” don’t often take into consideration bee biology. Read where heat goes in a colony and how it is expelled. Then note that grease and feed patties get in the way and how the beekeeper might indeed help the bees avoid the problems this causes.
Jennifer Berry visits the Georgia Sea Turtle Center http://www.georgiaseaturtlecenter.org/ and finds some new uses for honey. Read what all this has to do with bunnies and tortoises.
Bob Darrell describes how to produce cut comb honey the easy way. It’s a good way to add value to honey. Read how one might get $6 to $9 a pound for the sweet.
Allen Hayes finds an idea in an old text book on producing a scale hive with a bathroom scale at its base. Read how the weight can be read directly using a periscope. This is just the ticket for the Nasa Project I reported on in the past http://honeybeenet.gsfc.nasa.gov/.
Fred Hembree believes every good beekeeper needs a notebook. Read why he says good records make good beekeepers.
Ann Harman attempts to determine where a picnic with the bees might go wrong. Read the ins and outs of having a gaggle of beekeepers over for an open-hive demonstration.
Michael R. Harvey analyses Kerkhoff Hives and the advantages of a two-queen set up. Read why there is a renaissance in this kind of hive and how they have been updated for Varroa mite control. http://rusticelementbees.com/.
Charles Abramson and colleagues from a number of academic organizations, including France, Turkey and Oklahoma look for similarities in how humans and honey bees tolerate alcohol. Read why bees are ideal subjects for this kind of study and why this is similar to the cocaine example above.
In all the news that fits, see a listing of Californians honored at the latest convention and a report on Jerry Hayes winning the coveted AAPA Award of Excellence http://www.masterbeekeeper.org/aapa/index.htm. See also a listing for http://ruralbounty.com/, with which you can find all kinds of local produce including honey.
Alan Harman’s Global Wrap up lists the UK’s plan to protect bees, Brazil’s record honey year, Costa Rica’s forgotten pollinators, Fiji flooding, and bee thefts in Japan. Read what folks think of food safety in the U.S.
Ed Colby in the Bottom Board says beware of idle chatter and “never assume.” Read his explanations and examples.
AGRICULURE SECRETARY VILSACK AND FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA HIGHLIGHT HEALTHY EATING
WhiteHouseGarden to Receive USDA-Developed Honey Bees
WASHINGTON, April 9, 2009 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined First Lady Michelle Obama and a group of 5th graders on the South Lawn of the White House today to talk about healthy eating, the availability of locally grown fruits and vegetables, and bees.
“Growing your own fruits and vegetables is one of the best ways to have healthy food,” Vilsack said. “Working in a garden is a great way to stay physically active and maintain a healthy body. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is helping schools make sure that every student in America has a healthy and nutritious lunch to eat at school.”
This July, USDA will be providing two types of parasite-resistant honey bees developed by USDA scientists to pollinate the plants in the new White House garden this summer. Both of these bees are rapidly gaining in popularity with bee keepers.
Honey bees enhance any garden, because they increase the yields of plants that require pollination, they produce honey, and they are one of Nature's most fascinating creatures to observe. Unfortunately, parasitic mites cause serious health problems for most varieties of honey bees, and many beekeepers must use pesticides to combat the mites in the hives. But the USDA-developed bees are mite-resistant, offering a more natural, organic alternative for the White House garden.Find out what’s new at Mann Lakewww.mannlakeltd.com/catchthebuzz/index.htmlHoney bees are crucial to American agriculture, adding some $15 billion in value in the nation's crops, particularly specialty crops such as almonds and other nuts, berries, fruits, and vegetables. In California, the almond crop alone uses 1.3 million colonies of bees, approximately one half of all honey bees in the United States, and this need is projected to grow to 1.5 million colonies by 2010.
Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency, developed the two types of mite-resistant honey bees. One type is highly resistant to the parasitic mite Varroa destructor, commonly known as the varroa mite. The bees have a trait called "varroa-sensitive hygiene" which prompts the worker bees to detect and remove infested bees from the nest, eliminating the need for chemical help to control the mites.For a comprehensive listing of beekeeping events worldwide go to www.my.calendar.net/bee_culture/The second type of mite-resistant honey bees is based on a strain of honey bees from Russia which are naturally resistant not only to varroa mites, but also to tracheal mites, which infest the breathing tubes of the bees. These bees are also highly tolerant of cold weather and require less artificial feeding than typical honey bees.
The Russian bees were brought to the United States by Thomas Rinderer, research leader at ARS' Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Unit at Baton Rouge, La., where studies have been under way on the bees since the mid-1990s. Rinderer and other ARS scientists will collaborate with White House staff on installation of the USDA bees in the White House garden.Subscribe to the Apis newsletter www.apis.shorturl.comFor the past eight years, breeder queens of the Russian-derived and varroa-sensitive hygienic bees have been released to the beekeeping industry. In 2008, a breeders' group called the Russian Honeybee Breeders Association, Inc., was formed to supply the Russian-derived queens throughout the U.S. beekeeping industry, and demand is outstripping supply.
Both types of mite-resistant USDA bees are good pollinators and easy to keep alive because of their hardiness, thus helping ensure the success of the new White House garden.
This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping www.BeeCulture.com
Class Action Against Bond Insurers for a Billion Dollars because of Dumped Chinese Food.
Special to Bee Culture by Alan Harman
Five American food product producers file a $1-billion lawsuit seeking class-action status against a handful of major insurance companies and the U.S. government for alleged damages caused by dumped Chinese food products.
The five producers are Sioux Honey Association, Adee Honey Farms, Monterey Mushrooms Inc., The Garlic Co. and Beaucoup Crawfish of Eunice Inc.
The Dow Jones news service reports the complaint alleges the insurers’ negligent issuance of customs surety bonds, and the subsequent refusal to pay under the bonds, allowed the sale of “huge amounts of competing food imports” from China at below cost, or “dumped” prices.
Find out what’s new at Mann Lakewww.mannlakeltd.com/catchthebuzz/index.html “The dumping of these imports forced the domestic producers to significantly lower the prices for their competing products, causing the producers to lose hundreds of millions of dollars,” lawyer Michael Coursey of Kelly Drye & Warren LLP tells the new service. The company is representing the producers.
Customs bonds, required on all commercial imports entering the U.S., are contracts used for guaranteeing a specific obligation will be fulfilled between customs and an importer for any given import transaction.
The complaint alleges that for eight years, the insurers negligently issued hundreds of customs surety bonds that guaranteed the payment of any dumping duties the government might determine were owed by U.S. importers for the specified Chinese goods.
The lawsuit also claims the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Commerce Department failed to enforce four antidumping orders issued to protect domestic producers from dumped Chinese imports.
Subscribe to Apis Newsletter www.apis.shorturl.com The defendants include Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., Kingsway Financial Services Inc. unit Lincoln General Insurance Co., Swiss Reinsurance Co. Washington International Insurance Co. and American International Group Inc. unit American Home Assurance. This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping www.BeeCulture.com
Apiary Inspectors take annual survey, again. But Hurry.
What happened to the APHIS survey that was supposed to be funded? Or is this it?Maybe this year they won’t miss the colonies buried in the snow up north, eh?
The Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have asked that we fill out the following questionnaire. The information you provide will be entered into a spreadsheet and will not be attached to your name or address in any way. In addition to this e-mail survey, you may be contacted by phone and asked the same questions. Please provide answers to both if you are asked to do so – but mention to the phone interviewer that you have already answered the questions via email.
Please complete the survey below. The survey will be conducted between March 30 and April 17 2009. If possible pass along this message to your association members, other beekeepers you know or put on your web page or in your newsletter. The more information the better.
1. In what state(s) and county(s) do you keep your hives? If you keep hives in more than one state or county, please answer questions 2-9 separately by location.
2. How many hives did you have alive in September 2008?
3. How many hives are alive now (March/April 2009)?
4. How many splits, increases, and/or colonies did you make/buy since September 2008?
5. What percentage of loss, over this time period, would you consider acceptable?
6. What percentage of your hives that died had no dead bees in the hive or in the apiary?
7. To what do you attribute the cause of death for the hives that died?
8. What percentage of your hives did you send to CA for almond pollination?
9. How many times, on average, did you move your colonies last year?
CATCH THE BUZZ“If you don’t plan to plant a garden in LakeWobegon in the spring, it means you plan to be planted yourself.”
By Mike Stones
From FoodNavigator-USA.com
It’s an affirmation of life and fresh food from novelist Garrison Keillor that found favour on both sides of the Atlantic recently and one that carries potent messages for food manufactures and retailers.
Last week Michelle Obama, aided by local school children, dug up a patch of the South Lawn to create the first vegetable garden at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s VictoryGarden, planted in the Second World War. The organic garden will provide fresh vegetables for the first family’s meals and for formal dinners but its most important role will be to educate children about eating fresh vegetables and fruit.
Taking pride of place in the White House’s 18 vegetable beds will be peppers, peas and spinach, berries and herbs, according to a report in TheNew York Times. But there will be no beets - apparently the President does not like them.
Mrs Obama’s not-so-secret garden is a very public commitment to healthy eating. It’s a superb way of persuading more Americans to eat fresh fruit and vegetables at a time when life-style related illnesses and obesity have become quiet killers in US communities across the country.
It’s an initiative that could have powerful implications for food retailers and processors. If thousands or indeed millions of Americans develop a new taste for fresh local fruit and vegetables, apart from saving billions of dollars in healthcare, it could send seismic shock waves through the food industry. It could radically change the eating habits of a generation with obvious benefits to human health but less obvious negative impacts on the companies which produce and sell convenience foods.
Mrs Obama was clear where the drive to eat more healthily should start. “You can begin in your cupboard,” she told The New York Times, “by eliminating processed food, trying to cook a meal a little more often, trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables.”
It’s a powerful message that US consumers could take if not to their gardens, then at least to the shops. You don’t need to grow fresh vegetables in order to eat them. Under the spotlight of presidential patronage, fresh fruit and vegetable sales could rocket.
Also, this could be an opportunity for food manufacturers and processors. They could respond by incorporating healthier ingredients in their food products.
Yes, the Obamas’ garden could be dismissed as tokenism. But it is unquestionably a powerful token which others will be tempted to emulate. Already Unilever’s Haagen-Dazs has pledged to distribute two million bee-friendly flower seeds this year aimed at encouraging other American families to plant vegetable and fruit gardens and help bees to pollinate them. Many others are likely to follow the Obamas’ lead.
But why did they choose to plant an organic garden? Despite exhaustive studies no-one has ever proved that organically produced fruit, vegetables and meat are intrinsically better for human health than non organic foods. They are certainly less demanding of scarce resources but not necessarily healthier.
Some believe the decision to make the garden organic was intended to send a signal about the need to reduce reliance on modern, industrialized farming with its colossal thirst for fossil fuels for power, for fertilizers and pesticides and for transport. It will be interesting to see if the Obamas’ private interest in organic food production will be matched by public policy commitments.
Meanwhile, the recent emphasis on growing your own fruit and vegetables is not confined to North America. Earlier this month one of Britain’s biggest landowners, the National Trust, pledged to create 1000 new allotments on its land over the next three years to allow local communities the opportunity to grow their own fruit and vegetables. Reflecting both economic and health interests, more and more people want to grow their own food with more than 100,000 people on allotment waiting lists.
The new allotments could be used to grow up to 2.6m lettuces a year, or 50,000 sacks of potatoes or mixed produce with a value of up to ₤1.5m, according to the National Trust.
The last time so much public land was devoted to allotments was when the nation’s parks were converted to vegetable beds during the Second World War.
Perhaps, then, it’s not too fanciful to think of the White House vegetable garden and the National Trust allotments plan as key developments in another war: The war against obesity and unhealthy eating. The folks in LakeWobegon would be proud.
This message provided by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping
Recently, Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture magazine, reported that Michelle Obama will welcome two honeybees hives into her organic vegetable garden.
To read more about the latest buzz on the White House lawn you can find the article by clicking on this link:
Recently, Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture magazine, reported that Michelle Obama will welcome two honeybees hives into her organic vegetable garden. 
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