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Fellow Beekeepers,

Things are looking up!

Recommended reading:
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University will be the home for a new Honeybee
Genetics and Integrated Pest Management Center that will study the
continuing threat from deadly parasitic mites and Africanized
honeybees. The center is funded by a $1.8 million grant from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Initiative for Future Agriculture
and Food Systems.

The grant will establish the largest university-based, honeybee
research and extension infrastructure in the country.

The new center will focus on developing solutions to the two major
threats to honeybees, insects that are responsible for agricultural
pollination valued in the billions of dollars. The director is
Nicholas W. Calderone, Cornell assistant professor of entomology,
assisted by project scientists Walter S. Sheppard of Washington State
University in Pullman and Jeff Pettis of the USDA-Agricultural
Research Service, Bee Research Laboratory, Beltsville, Md. Other
supporters of the program include the USDA Sustainable Research and
Agricultural Education program, the USDA Northeast Integrated
Pest Management program, the New York State Department of Agriculture
and Markets, and the Organic Farming and Research Foundation.

Most of the pollination for more than 90 commercial crops grown
throughout the United States is provided byApis mellifera , the
honeybee. The value from the pollination to agricultural output in
the country is estimated at $14.6 billion annually. Growers rent
about 1.5 million colonies each year to pollinate crops.

The introduction of the parasitic bee mite Varroa destructor in 1987
and the invasion of the Africanized honeybee in 1990 have threatened
honeybee colonies. "Parasitic mites are currently managed with
pesticides, but as with other agricultural pests, the mite population
has developed resistance to these pesticides and beekeepers will soon
be without effective treatments," says Calderone. He notes that the
extremely defensive Africanized honeybee could be even more
devastating. This honeybee is well established in the southwestern
United States and is spreading northward into the Central Valley area
of California and into the southeastern United States, says
Calderone. These are the principal queen and package-bee producing
areas that supply beekeepers with new stock to replace losses due
to parasitic mites. "The establishment of the Africanized honeybee in
these areas will result in restrictions on the shipment of bees from
these areas. This, in turn, will severely limit the ability of
beekeepers to restock their operations," he says.

Migratory pollination, which provides the majority of pollination
services, might be particularly hard hit because migratory bee
operators typically spend the winter in the South and travel
throughout the United States to pollinate crops during the spring and
summer. The establishment of the Africanized honeybee in the southern
states will result in restrictions on the movement of migratory
operations throughout the country, Calderone says.

In its evaluation of methods for controlling parasitic mites, the new
center will emphasize the development of mite-resistant stocks of
honeybees. The breeding program will be the first to use honeybees to
integrate traditional animal-breeding methods with modern molecular
technologies.

Calderone says there will be an emphasis on identification and the
use of molecular markers for mite resistance and other desirable
traits. "Marker-facilitated selection offers the first real
opportunity to transform beekeeping from an industry that has become
dependent on a growing number of expensive pesticides and antibiotics
into one that is free of chemical inputs and that is economically
viable in today's competitive global marketplace," says Calderone.

Because the breeding populations will be maintained using closed-
mating technology, they will be kept free of Africanized honeybee
genes, thereby providing an unadulterated source for commercial queen
and package producers.

The grant also provides funds to develop a regional extension program
in apiculture and to coordinate extension activities with
institutions in other regions.

The Cornell University Master Beekeeper Program, which Calderone
established in 1998, will serve as the centerpiece for the expanded
extension program.
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Lloyd
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Lloyd Spear Owner, Ross Rounds, Inc.  The finest in comb honey production.
Visit our web site at http://www.rossrounds.com.