News

The first-ever smartphone app about keeping healthy honeybees has been launched by Vita (Europe) Ltd, the world’s largest dedicated bee health company. The app is free and gives beekeepers easy mobile access to information and photographs about honeybee disease identification and treatment. The app, suitable for nearly all smartphones and tablet devices, can be downloaded Continue Reading »

June 17-23, 2013 is National Pollinator Week where honeybees, bumblebees, butterflies, hummingbirds, bats, wasps, ants, moths, and some small mammals are celebrated for providing us with fruits, nuts, and vegetables.  Yet, the celebration that often awaits bees, and other pollinators in this blooming season is a deadly concoction of pesticides, misapplied in violation of the Continue Reading »

Monsanto Commits To Collaboration With Beekeeping Industry Partners To Improve Honey Bee HealthST. LOUIS, June 13, 2013 — A first-of-its-kind Honey Bee Health Summit concluded at Monsanto Company’s Chesterfield Village Research Center. The three-day event hosted by Project Apis m. (PAm) and Monsanto’s Honey Bee Advisory Council (HBAC) included nearly 100 members of the bee Continue Reading »

Agri-environment schemes aimed to promote biodiversity on farmland have positive effects on wild bees, hoverflies and butterflies. Effects on diversity and abundance were strongest when agri-environment schemes prescribed sowing wild-flowers, the more flowering species the better. Organic farms, set-aside land or fields receiving reduced amounts of fertilizer and pesticides generally hosted more wild pollinators than Continue Reading »

Scholarship:  Project Apis m. (PAm) and Costco Wholesale Corporation have collaborated to sponsor a competitive scholarship program for a Ph.D. – level candidate.  The purpose of the Costco Scholar Program is to ensure the continuity of honey bee health scientists and specialties in the academic and research world.  It also intends to develop and contribute Continue Reading »

Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community donates bees, hives June 6, 2013 (MINNEAPOLIS) – The green roof at the Minneapolis City Hall and Courthouse building is now buzzing with honeybees, thanks to a donation from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, which donated the bees from its own apiaries. Bees on rooftops are common in cities, and the Continue Reading »

State-Of-The-Art Facility Will Address Honey Bee Health Through Collaboration, Education and Research   RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. (May 29, 2013) – As part of its continued commitment to honey bee health, today Bayer CropScience broke ground on its North American Bee Care Center, a recognition of the importance of these pollinators to agriculture. Senior company Continue Reading »

National Pollinator Defense Fund News Release As you know the Farm Bill is working its way through Congress. What is surprising are the number of amendments (there are now over 300). Some are positive, and others appear problematic. Though not all amendments make it to the final Farm Bill please take time to read the Continue Reading »

Declines in the biodiversity of pollinating insects and wild plants have slowed in recent years, according to a new study. Researchers led by the University of Leeds and the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands found evidence of dramatic reductions in the diversity of species in Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands between the 1950s and Continue Reading »

Please read and circulate the attached letter.  Thank you for your help in funding these great projects! Excerpt: However, at this time we need an infusion of unrestricted funds to continue our comprehensive research program.  We especially want to fund recent proposals received, including Dr. Reed Johnson’s Dimilin research ($134,640), Maryann Frazier’s pesticide cost share Continue Reading »