We’re going ahead with the development of a Varroa Action Plan in what is perhaps a futile effort to keep Newfoundland and Labrador Varroa-free. Dr. David Peck at Cornell University is assisting us with this.  We’re holding two workshops in August to discuss a possible sentinel apiary program, testing and treatment protocols, possible eradication, quarantine, the degree to which our stock is resistant, etc.

We need to hype the workshops and in other ways maximize beekeeper participation in them.  To this end, I would like to mount a number of before-after testimonies from beekeepers who can tell us naïve folks here what it was like to get Varroa.  I have yet to meet anyone who says this was a positive experience, so I expect the testimonies to be sufficiently negative to motivate beekeepers here for whom Varroa is largely an abstraction (and help to deter potential illegal importers, which is our most likely vector for Varroa incursions).

If you would be willing to do a quick phone “interview” with me, please email me. Your testimony will be recorded and the mp3 recording will be placed on our website with attribution.  I don’t care where you live, but if you have some useful things to say about your Varroa experience, you could help us keep the parasite out of here.

Thanks!

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