FILENAME:  NOVAPIS.91
 
            Florida Extension Beekeeping Newsletter
    Apis--Apicultural Information and Issues (ISSN 0889-3764)
               Volume 9, Number 11, November 1991
 
               MORE ON THE IFAS LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
 
     Some questions have come up about the IFAS Leadership Program
that I reported on in the last issue of this newsletter.  Ms.
Eloise Cutts, Executive Secretary of the Florida State Beekeepers
Association, has now been sent application forms for this program.
Contact her at 2237 NW 16th Ave., Gainesville, FL 32605, ph
904/378-7719.  Alternatively, they can be requested from Dr. John
Trotter here at the University of Florida, phone 904/392-1038.  It
is important to remember that you cannot nominate yourself for this
program, but other industry leaders can.  Hurry!  Deadline is
December 14.
 
             WHAT THE NATIONAL HONEY BOARD IS DOING
 
     It is now official.  The National Honey Board will continue
and the refund provision of the Honey Research Promotion and
Consumer Information Act will be eliminated.  Almost 91 percent of
voters favored continuation of the Board.  These represented 89
percent of the volume of honey produced and exported by those
voting.  Some 72 percent also voted to eliminate the refund
provision, which is expected to result in an increase of $300,000
in the Board's budget.
 
     Ms. Sherry Jennings reported the above figures and also told
those attending the 71st convention of the Florida State Beekeepers
Association in Gainesville to expect a lot more from Board
activities in the future.  Specifically being promoted is the
Board's Honey Bear Service Mark Program.   Ms. Jennings showed a
video that was designed to introduce the program to the food
industry.  By all measures the video's results have been uniformly
positive.
 
     The Board awards the Honey Bear Service Mark to manufacturers
who use a significant amount of honey in their products.  Over 130
products have been approved to use the logo and the program is
growing in popularity.  The mark can now be found on Land O'Frost
hams and turkeys, Wheatzels wheat pretzels, Downey's honey butter,
ThistleDew Farm's honey mustard and even Eight-in-One Pet Products
14 varieties of Ultra-blend Honeybars.  Other services to food
manufacturers include a new brochure which details how honey can be
used in muffins, breads and cookies.  In addition, "key selling
point" fact sheets are being developed to help food manufacturers
solve problems with honey which is becoming more important in baked
goods and ready-to-eat cereals.  Finally, the Board continues to
support its honey hotline (1-800-356-5941) which answers all manner
of questions on the sweet.
 
     Other forms of advertising have been launched.  Ms. Jennings
showed the group several video spots on national television
programs.  The Board helped produce a television program as part of
the new PBS Series, "Cooking in America," to debut in early 1992,
according to the Summer 1991 National Honey Board newsletter.  A
companion book, "Pierre Franey's Cooking in America," will be
published by Random House.  The chapter on honey will be the first
written and will be the model for subsequent chapters.  Full color
ads, usually in combination with other products, will also continue
to appear in magazines found in food stores.  Another production by
the National Honey Board is the cooking video "Just Add Honey."
This can be used in conjunction with all kinds of events including
state fairs and cooking demonstrations.  It is available for $12.00
from the Board.  However, I have permission to dub it for free and
you can get a copy by sending me a blank VHS video tape.
 
     Beyond the domestic front lies the world honey market.  The
National Honey Board is working closely with the USDA Foreign
Agricultural Service (FAS) to increase sales in strategic world
markets.  The 1991 focus, according to the Board's Summer 1991
newsletter, is to promote specialty honeys of exquisite quality
such as tupelo, buckwheat and sage that command premium prices on
the world market.  A small, but important, foothold in this has
been established in Finland.  Last year sales to Finland increased
150 percent.  A creamed honey has been marketed to get the
population used to eating the sweet as a spread instead of a hard
crystalline form suitable only as a sweetener in beverages.
Portion packs and commercial cooking with honey are also being
marketed.
 
     Although the bread and butter of the Board's activities are
promotional, another payoff is in the active research program that
is beginning to develop.  Protecting the quality of the crop has
always been a priority for those in the honey industry and the
adulteration issue continues to be of concern.  Thus, the Board
will oversee a research project to improve honey testing under the
guidance of Dr. Nicholas Low, Department of Applied Microbiology
and Food Science at the University of Saskatoon, Canada.  Funding
will also be supplied by the National Honey Packers and Dealers
Association, Sioux Honey Association and other national
organizations concerned about honey quality.
 
     New food labelling regulations by the Food and Drug
Administration may also require research on honey.  Nobody is yet
sure what the rules will be, according to Mr. Nick Sargeantson,
current President of the National Honey Packers and Dealers
Association.   He is quoted in the Summer 1991 National Honey Board
Newsletter saying that the industry should put nutritional labels
on its products after the final rules are published sometime in
1993.
 
     The National Honey Board is also examining ultrafiltration of
honey.  The process filters, purifies and/or concentrates food
products and other organic materials, according to the Board's
Summer 1991 newsletter.  Ultrafiltration would be advantageous for
increased honey use in the dairy, cosmetic and pharmaceutical
industries.
 
     Finally, five pharmaceutical and burn treatment specialists
reviewed a series of reports presented by the National Honey Board.
These presented current research and scientific data on honey in
pharmaceutical applications, according to the Board's Summer 1991
newsletter.  This was particularly involving the use of honey in
burn cases.  The National Burn Victim Foundation, in conjunction
with the Beijing Institute, has developed an ointment using honey
to accelerate wound healing.  The Shriner's Burn Institute, the
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and Science and the National
Institute for Burn Medicine have also been encouraged by research
on medical applications of honey.  All this provides legitimacy to
what many have always known about honey's healing properties.
However, to bring a product to market with honey as an "active"
ingredient would require a great amount of research and might cost
$250 million, according to the Board's Executive Director, Mr. Bob
Smith.   As an adjunct to this, therefore, the Board is also
promoting honey as an "inactive" ingredient in pharmaceutical
products.  These include ointments, creams, throat lozenges or
syrups.
 
     The bottom line for the Board, according to Mr. Smith, is a
commitment to increasing the demand for honey by strengthening the
market and adding value to the product.  All the above programs are
resulting in strong sales for honey despite the current recession.
In its fall newsletter, the Board published a graph showing a
steady increase in sales from 1988 through the first six months of
1991.  Sales are up 10 percent over last year and 13% the previous
year, according to the accompanying text.  Most of this is
attributed to bulk sales, but the retail market is also ahead by 6
percent over last year.  As of June 1991, the average retail price
per pound of honey was $1.63.
 
     The sample listing of activities of the National Honey Board
provided above can give only a basic outline of the Board's
efforts.  Obviously, there would be very little activity on any of
these promotional or research fronts if funding for the Board was
terminated.  The industry had the wisdom, therefore, to continue
the program in the referendum and also to terminate the refund
procedure.
 
     It is important to understand that the National Honey Board is
a beekeeper supported program and not associated with the U.S.
Government, Mr. Smith said in the Summer 1991 newsletter.  It has
not been involved in the recent buy-back price increase and nor is
it a part of the USDA's Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation
Service Program (ASCS).  Although the one cent per pound is
collected by ASCS, it goes to National Honey Board programs and is
not to be confused with any other ASCS marketing assessment.  The
U.S. Government, Mr. Smith concluded, does not have the same
commitment to the honey industry as the National Honey Board.
Indeed even as the 1990 Farm Bill is being implemented, rumors
continue that the price support program is under attack in
Congress.
 
     In addition to being beekeeper supported, the Board is also
run by representatives of the industry.  Mr. Bill Gamber in the
Fall 1991 newsletter provided some information on how the Board
functions.  Most of the work is done at the committee level, he
said.  The Board has five committees--Executive, Advertising and
Consumer Information, Industry Relations, Product Research and
Development and International Market Development.  Board members
nominated by the industry serve on at least two of these
committees.  Each analyzes information presented and makes
recommendations to the Board to get the most work done in the least
amount of time.
 
     The best way to get to know who your representative might be,
as well as become informed on the Board's activities, is to receive
the quarterly newsletter.  Contact the National Honey Board, 421
21st Ave. #203, Longmont, CO 80501-1421, ph 303/776-2337 to be put
on the mailing list.
 
                       IN SEARCH OF HONEY
 
     The student organization here in the Department of
Entomology/Nematology has had a good year selling honey.  However,
it's all gone now and, thus, this plea to the industry to provide
a barrel of Florida's sweet, the profits of which would go for
travel of students to professional meetings and other related
activities.  If you are interested, please contact me.
Alternatively, you can get in touch with Scott Yocom, who is
currently pursuing Varroa mite research, ph 904/392-1901, ext. 211.
 
                        NEWS FROM GEORGIA
 
     The Georgia Bee Letter, written by Dr. Keith Delaplane,
Georgia Cooperative Extension Service, has some news of interest to
Florida beekeepers.  In an update on Miticur (R), Dr. Delaplane
reports that Nor-Am Chemical Company considers registration of the
product that controls both tracheal and Varroa mites to be
imminent.  Florida and Georgia are also pursuing emergency
registration of the product; this allows short-term use of a non-
registered product for a specified location.
 
     Beginning in 1992, Georgia is deregulating Varroa mites.
Inspectors will be checking only if requested by beekeepers who
need certification to move into other states.  The Georgia
Department of Agriculture, however, will require use of Apistan (R)
in all caged queens and/or package bees originating in the state.
 
     A Survey of Acaricide Use in Honey Bee Hives in Georgia was
also recently published by Dr. Delaplane.  It is one of the few
studies that deals with the topic of chemical application to
control mites inside beehives.  Some 378 of the 1,618
questionnaires sent out were returned, a response rate of 23.4%.
This represented 51,608 beehives, 46.5% of the number found in
Georgia at the end of 1990.  The results showed that more hives
were treated with menthol than Apistan (R), most receiving two
menthol treatments and only one Apistan (R) treatment.  Menthol was
usually applied using one 50-gram packet, but cough drops and
vegetable oil were popular alternatives.  In 1990, respondents
spent an average of $2.20 on menthol per colony and $2.50 treating
with Apistan (R).  Menthol was usually put on the top bars, Apistan
(R) between the frames.  Finally, most menthol was used in the
autumn and spring, most Apistan (R) in autumn.
 
     When asked what other products beekeepers would like to see
approved for mite treatment, most said they didn't know (47%).
Amitraz followed with 26.5%.  Alternative non-chemical controls
considered important by respondents were breeding from their own
resistant bees, using another beekeeper's resistant stock and
"letting the fittest survive."  The bottom line for beekeepers in
Georgia asked if they had to rely solely on non-chemical controls
for mite control:  A loss of $2,177,194 from tracheal mites and
$2,317,102 from Varroa, totalling $4,494,296 statewide.
 
               ------IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT------
 
     The next meeting of the Florida Honey Bee Technical Council
will be December 19, 1991.  It will begin at 10:00 a.m. at the
Doyle Conner Building, 1911 SW 34th St., Gainesville.  An important
topic on the agenda is registration fees (see the October APIS).
For more information and to receive an agenda, contact the Apiary
Bureau, Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, ph
904/372-2505, ext. 128.
 
Sincerely,
 
 
 
Malcolm T. Sanford
0740 IFAS, Bldg 970
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-0740
Phone (904) 392-1801, Ext. 143
FAX: 904-392-0190
BITNET Address: MTS@IFASGNV
INTERNET Address: [log in to unmask]