CATCH THE BUZZ - British Beekeepers End Pesticide Support

CATCH THE BUZZ

 

 

The BBKA is to end its commercial relationship with a pesticide manufacturer whose products killed bees.

From The Guardian, by Allison Benjamin

The British Beekeepers' Association has today announced plans to end its controversial practice of endorsing pesticides in return for cash from leading chemical manufacturers.

The endorsement of four products as "bee-friendly" in return for £17,500 a year caused outrage among many beekeepers because one of the companies, Bayer Crop Science, makes pesticides that are widely implicated in the deaths of honeybees worldwide.

But the BBKA denies that it has bowed to pressure from members who have been increasingly critical of the its stance. Bayer's clothianidin was identified as causing the death of two-thirds of honeybees in southern Germany in 2008.

In a statement sent outtoday to the secretaries of local beekeeping associations across the UK, the BBKA's president, Martin Smith, said: "Following discussion with the companies involved, the BBKA trustees have decided that endorsement and related product-specific payments will cease as soon as practically possible."

He added: "The four products subject to BBKA endorsement are of declining commercial importance and the development of new classes of pesticides and application techniques means that the relationship with the plant-protection industry should be reviewed."

Beekeeper Graham White, who resigned from the BBKA more than two years ago in protest at what he called a "secret deal done with the pesticide manufacturers whose products are lethal to bees", welcomed today's decision.

"It's great news, but it's too little, too late," he said. "They should have been showing solidarity with beekeepers in France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia when pesticides were banned there after being implicated in bee deaths, instead of selling their logo to the manufacturers."

Smith defended its position then as one of "constructive engagement" to ensure pesticides were properly applied as per the instructions on the label to minimise damage to honeybees.

The BBKA's position has polarised the 45,000-strong beekeeping community, but the majority of BBKA members upheld its policy at its annual delegate meeting earlier this year and in 2009.

At the next meeting in January, delegates will be asked to note today's decision "with respect to the cessation of BBKA endorsement of certain pesticides".

But the organisation has not ruled out accepting funds in the future from pesticide companies. "The trustees may wish to invite companies to exhibit at the BBKA's spring convention or make a contribution to the BBKA research fund," said Smith.

"It is time to broaden the range of engagement with the crop-protection industry beyond the narrow focus of endorsing certain products; rather to contribute more directly to the development of new regulatory criteria for pesticide approval and to further support the industry in the general move to improve countryside stewardship," he added.

White says all ties to the pesticide industry should be immediately severed. "All of those who created and directed this policy of pesticide endorsement must be thrown out of the BBKA and replaced by real beekeepers. The BBKA is not fit for purpose and will never recover its moral integrity until it is reconstituted as a pure beekeeping organisation that is willing to campaign against all use of systemic pesticides on British farms."

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Quality Top Bar Hives by Gold Star Honeybees - good for you, good for your bees, good for the planet. Check us out at www.goldstarhoneybees.com.

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This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping, published by the A.I. Root Company.

Read an EXCLUSIVE CHAPTER from Tom Seeley’s new book Honey Bee Democracy, only on Bee Culture’s web page Here!

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CATCH THE BUZZ - Change In The Air

After 3 weeks travel and catching up, CATCH THE BUZZ is back. Watch for our emails, check out our supporters below, tell a friend abou the BUZZ, and keep your smoker lit, your hive tool handy and bee veil tight.

CATCH THE BUZZ

Things Are Always Changing…A collection of events…

Alan Harman

 

The Dak Lak Honey Bee Joint Stock Co. aims to double its honey exports to 10,000 tonnes this year valued at more than US$20 million.

   By late October, the company in the highland province of Dak Lak had collected 11,000 tonnes of honey and exported more than 8,000 tonnes of honey products to the U.S., Canada, Japan, and South Korea.

   The U.S. buys 80% of the honey products from Dak Lak province.

   To push honey exports, Dak Lak has expanded into other areas in Dak Lak province as well as to provinces in the Central Highland and Southwestern regions.

   Dak Lak province this year is home to 200,000 flocks of bees with expected production of 11,500 tonnes of honey, twice the amount last year.

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An organic honey producer in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey says his honey harvest fell 50% this year even after the number of hives was increased by 40%.

   Topuy Kaçkar Organic Honey Products general manager Remzi Özbay tells the Hürriyet Daily News it almost looked like the company’s bees were on strike.

   “They have so drastically slashed the production that we could only deliver half the amount we promised to customers a year ago,” Özbay says. “We had to suspend our export negations with five countries.”

   Özbay says there is a high international demand for his honey including from the United States, Japan, Germany and Australia.

   The firm usually harvests about six tons of honey from 1,000 hives each year and raised the number of hives to 1,400 this year to meet the rising demand.

   “However, despite the increase in the number of hives our production fell to three tons,” Özbay says.

   “We did a study and found out this was the case with all honey producers.”

   He says the natural balance has been ruined due to pesticides that have directly affected the bees’ ecosystem.

   “Bee deaths are increasing,” he says

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Partnership

   Canadian specialty honey manufacturer Island Abbey Foods Ltd. announces a agreement to distribute its Honibe products through Dutch Gold Honey Inc., of Lancaster, PA and its subsidiary McLure’s Honey and Maple Products, Littleton, NH.

   The Prince Edward Island company’s Honibe brand is built around a proprietary technology that allows the creation of 100% pure dried honey products in a variety of forms.

   Dutch Gold Honey will expand its product lines to include Honibe 100% pure dried honey products starting with Honibe Honey Drop sugar cubes and Honey Sprinkles granules for desserts, baking and ingredient use.

   Island Abbey Foods president John Rowe says he’s excited about the collaboration.

   “Dutch Gold Honey is a leader in the honey industry in the United States that has built a reputation on quality, integrity and trust over the past 64 years,” he says. “To now have our innovative Honibe product lines available through this household name in honey is a wonderful partnership for us.”

   Dutch Gold Honey sales vice president Jill Clark says it is pleased to be able to offer the award winning Honibe line of pure dried honey products to its customers.

  “Island Abbey Foods has generated a lot of international attention for its unique technology since the launch of the Honibe brand in 2008, and we are excited to add their products to our Dutch Gold Honey & McLure’s product lines,” she says

   The Honibe brand has garnered international attention in recent months for its Honey Drop product, a teaspoon-sized individual serving of 100% pure dried honey without any additives. It is ideal for sweetening tea or coffee by dropping it into the hot beverage and stirring.

   Most recently, the Honey Drop won two SIAL D’or 2010 Awards at the world’s largest food tradeshow in Paris, France and will is one of nine finalists competing for best new food product in the world this month.

   Island Abbey Foods is a 6th generation PEI agricultural family business.

 

This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping, published by the A.I. Root Company.

Read an EXCLUSIVE CHAPTER from Tom Seeley’s new book Honey Bee Democracy, only on Bee Culture’s web page Here!

Build an entire bee hive with just a table saw. Go to Garreson Publishing. Books by Peter Sieling.

Find out What Is New At Mann Lake right Here

Protein feeding pays off with better health, better survival, better production, and better wintering. Learn More.  

FREE - Kelley Bees Modern Beekeeping Monthly Newsletter

Quality Top Bar Hives by Gold Star Honeybees - good for you, good for your bees, good for the planet. Check us out at www.goldstarhoneybees.com.

Subscribe to Malcolm Sanford’s Apis Newsletter right here for a comprehensive listing of beekeeping events around the country and around the globe, check out Bee Culture’s Global Beekeeping Calendar

 

 

CATCH THE BUZZ - Nature vs Nurture

CATCH THE BUZZ

 

Nature or Nurture, Queen and Worker

Alan Harman

   The nature-nurture debate is a giant step closer to being resolved after scientists studying bees documented how environmental inputs can modify genetic hardware.

   The research at the Australian National University (ANU) and the German Cancer Institute uncovered the extensive molecular differences that occur in the brains of two types of genetically identical, but behaviorally different, female honey bees – worker bees and queen bees.

   The workers and queens develop along very different paths when put on different diets.

   The research reveals for the first time the intricacies of the environmentally influenced chemical marking of DNA called DNA methylation, which has the capacity to alter gene expression without affecting the genetic code – a process referred to as ‘epigenetic’, or above the genome.

    “This marking determines which genes are to be fine-tuned in the brains of workers and queens to produce their extraordinarily different behaviors.” research team leader Ryszard Maleszka says at ANU.

    “This finding is not only crucial, but far reaching, because the enzymes that mark DNA in the bee are also the enzymes that mark DNA in human brains, he says.

   “In the bees, more than 550 genes are differentially marked between the brain of the queen and the brain of the worker, which contributes to their profound divergence in behavior.

   “This study provides the first documentation of extensive molecular differences that may allow honey bees to generate different reproductive and behavioral outcomes as a result of differential feeding with royal jelly.”

   Maleszka says the work goes a long way to answering one of life’s biggest questions.

   “This study represents a giant step towards answering one of the big questions in the nature-nurture debate, because it shows how the outside world is linked to DNA via diet, and how environmental inputs can transiently modify our genetic hardware,” he says.

   “Similar studies are impossible to do on human brains, so the humble honey bees are the pioneers in this fascinating area.”

 

Read an EXCLUSIVE CHAPTER from Tom Seeley’s new book Honey Bee Democracy, only on Bee Culture’s web page Here!

Build an entire bee hive with just a table saw. Go to Garreson Publishing. Books by Peter Sieling.

Find out What Is New At Mann Lake right Here

Protein feeding pays off with better health, better survival, better production, and better wintering. Learn More.  

FREE - Kelley Bees Modern Beekeeping Monthly Newsletter

Quality Top Bar Hives by Gold Star Honeybees - good for you, good for your bees, good for the planet. Check us out at www.goldstarhoneybees.com.

Subscribe to Malcolm Sanford’s Apis Newsletter right here for a comprehensive listing of beekeeping events around the country and around the globe, check out Bee Culture’s Global Beekeeping Calendar

This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping, published by the A.I. Root Company.

Check out the Biggest Honey Show there is this fall at www.honeyshow.co.uk

 

 

Central Beekeepers Alliance : Free Honey and Pollen Analysis Offered to Canadian Beekeepers

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Free Honey and Pollen Analysis Offered to Canadian Beekeepers Posted: 09 Nov 2010 04:57 AM PST A two-year research project entitled Floral identification of Canadian honey and pollen and development of a palynological reference booklet aims to develop a Canadian expertise in honey and pollen identification.  Unlike European honeys, Canadian honeys are not differentiated by their specific floral sources. The term "mixed flowers" categorizes the majority of honey sold in the country. Therefore, consumers cannot buy honeys from particular floral origins. In addition, the Canadian market is flooded with imported honeys of lower quality. The price of these "mixed flowers" honeys imported is much lower than Canadian honey, causing significant competition to local products. Finally, because pollen can be used to feed bees or sold as dietary supplement for human consumption, the labelling of plant composition would add market-value. The purpose of this two-year project is to develop a Canadian expertise in honey and pollen identification of floral sources. The project will enable Canadian beekeepers to send honey and pollen samples for free analysis (shipping fees will be beekeepers' responsibility) for the duration of the project. Ms. Mélissa Girard, a M.Sc. graduate who has extensive training in both beekeeping and palynology (the scientific study of spores and pollen) will be in charge of the project and will continue to offer the service at an affordable price through the CRSAD when the project is concluded. Pollen Reference Collection In addition to honey and pollen analyses, a reference collection of pollen grains from all melliferous plant species of Canada will be created. Out of this collection, a photograph booklet and identification key of the pollen grains will be produced and made available. The reference collection will be created with the help of research centers and universities from all over Canada sending flowers to the CRSAD. However, the help of the beekeepers, although optional, would be greatly appreciated. Potential flowers targeted for mono-floral honeys to be analysed could be collected and sent with honey samples. This would help in completing the pollen reference collection. Procedure if you decide to collect flowers Collect a full envelope (standard letter size) of freshly opened flowers from a single species. Seal the envelope. On the envelope, write down the plant species or common name, date of collection and the environment (forest, agricultural field, roadside, etc.) Let the envelope dry under the sun for 2-3 days (through a window) Amount of honey or pollen to send for analysis Honey: 50g Pollen: 50-100g of pellets (approximately 1/2-1 cup)* *The total amount of pollen pellets must be mixed gently in order to homogenize the content prior to taking the sample. The pollen must be dried or kept frozen until mailing. The identification form (English/French) must be filled and sent with the sample(s). Shipping address for sample(s): Centre de recherche – services-conseils a/s Mélissa Girard 120-A, chemin du Roy Deschambault, Québec Canada, G0A 1L0 melissa.girard.apiculture@hotmail.com 1-418-656-2131 #8876 For more information, please contact Ms. Girard at the address and phone number above. Free Honey and Pollen Analysis Offered to Canadian Beekeepers was written and published by the Central Beekeepers Alliance - Honey Bees & Beekeeping in New Brunswick, Canada. For more information, please visit http://cba.stonehavenlife.com. Varroa Mites Blamed for Winter Bee Losses in Canada Maritime Action Forum on Pollination Research: 19 March 2010 New Honey Bee Exhibits at Canada’s Virtual Museum & Agriculture Museum

Varroa Mites Blamed for Winter Bee Losses in Canada Posted: 08 Nov 2010 07:58 AM PST Here's a good reason for beekeepers to treat all bee colonies for mites, whether or not you've seen visible evidence of infestation: "Varroa destructor is the main culprit for the death and reduced populations of overwintered honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in Ontario, Canada," says a report from the University of Guelph and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, published in the July-August 2010 issue of the bee science journal Apidologie: The relative effect of parasite levels, bee population size, and food reserves on winter mortality and post winter populations of honey bee colonies was estimated. More than 400 colonies were monitored throughout three seasons in Ontario, Canada. Most of the colonies were infested with varroa mites during the fall (75.7%), but only 27.9% and 6.1% tested positive to nosema disease and tracheal mites, respectively. Winter colony mortality was 27.2%, and when examined as a fraction of all morbidity factors, fall varroa mite infestations were the leading cause of colony mortality (associated to > 85% of colony deaths), followed by fall bee populations and food reserves. Varroa-infested colonies, with weak populations and low food reserves in the fall, significantly decreased spring colony populations, whereas varroa infestations and Nosema infections in the spring, significantly decreased bee populations by early summer. Overall, results suggest that varroa mites could be the main culprit for the death and reduced populations of overwintered honey bee colonies in northern climates. Beekeepers who don't bother to treat for Varroa in their over-wintering colonies may be greatly increasing the risk of finding weak hives or dead-outs in spring. While low numbers of bees going into the winter and a shortage of food reserves are also key factors contributing to the problem, this report finds that Varroa mites are likely to be the main reason why Canada has been seeing high losses of over-wintered honeybees in recent years. Citation: Varroa destructor is the main culprit for the death and reduced populations of overwintered honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in Ontario, Canada Ernesto Guzmán-Novoa, Leslie Eccles, Yireli Calvete, Janine Mcgowan, Paul G. Kelly and Adriana Correa-Benítez Apidologie 41 (4) 443-450 (2010) DOI: 10.1051/apido/2009076 Varroa Mites Blamed for Winter Bee Losses in Canada was written and published by the Central Beekeepers Alliance - Honey Bees & Beekeeping in New Brunswick, Canada. For more information, please visit http://cba.stonehavenlife.com. Free Honey and Pollen Analysis Offered to Canadian Beekeepers Maritime Action Forum on Pollination Research: 19 March 2010 New Honey Bee Exhibits at Canada’s Virtual Museum & Agriculture Museum

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Central Beekeepers Alliance : Central Beekeepers Christmas Dinner 2010

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Central Beekeepers Christmas Dinner 2010 Posted: 01 Nov 2010 10:36 AM PDT Central Beekeepers Alliance – Christmas Dinner Saturday, 4 December 2010 Time: 6:30 p.m. Location: Frank’s Finer Diner, Two Nations Crossing, Fredericton, NB Turkey dinner buffet, with dessert and beverage included. Cost per person: $19.95. (Payments can be brought to our potluck supper on November 9th.) A private room has been reserved for the event. Please use the entrance at the back of the restaurant building. Central Beekeepers Christmas Dinner 2010 was written and published by the Central Beekeepers Alliance - Honey Bees & Beekeeping in New Brunswick, Canada. For more information, please visit http://cba.stonehavenlife.com.

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