Final report for ENC17-160
Project Information
The persistence of bee health issues poses threats to food security and ecosystems. While farmers and beekeepers have potential to protect bees and mitigate the effects of the current crisis, there is a lack of accurate and relevant regional information available for them to translate their potential into action. The University of Minnesota (UMN) Department of Entomology and its Bee and Pollinator Research Lab have a history of providing research-based solutions to farmers and beekeepers. As the pollinator crisis evolves, dialogue and problem solving between researchers, farmers, and beekeepers are paramount.
The Bee Lab, its Extension arm, the Bee Squad, and Dr. Bill Hutchison, UMN Professor, Extension Entomologist, and integrated pest management (IPM) expert, will partner to develop an innovative professional development program that will increase the knowledge of Extension Educators from seven states in the North Central Region, as well as of beekeeping association representatives and conventional farmers. The program will include 1) a daylong field day summit for beekeepers, farmers, and Extension Educators to learn side-by-side about improving bee health, increasing pollinator habitat, and incorporating IPM strategies into beekeeping and farm management; and 2) a series of five educational webinars based on the field day seminars that will be developed for Extension Educators and made available online to reach larger audiences.
By providing professional development and partnership opportunities to groups that have high potential to protect bees, the Bee Squad and Dr. Hutchison’s IPM Program will chart a healthier course for bees in the North Central Region.
SHORT-TERM OUTCOMES
Beekeeping Associations:
Through the Bee Squad’s professional development program, beekeepers will learn why bee health is declining, why habitat is critical for bees, and how to incorporate and maintain bee habitat. Specifically, they will learn about nectar and pollen-rich flowers and the effects of pesticides. Through in-hive demonstrations, beekeepers will learn how to monitor Varroa using IPM principles, and they will learn training techniques to share with members of their beekeeping associations. Overall, beekeepers will learn about research-based recommendations for managing honey bee colonies and avoiding colony losses.
Conventional Farmers:
Each presenter represents a different type of organizational approach to habitat construction, including a non- profit, a governmental agency, and a conventional farmer. Farmers will learn from Pete Berthelson, a Pheasants Forever habitat expert, Debra Hermel with the NRCS, and Keith Johnson, a conventional farmer with experience incorporating habitat into his own operation, about different approaches to sustainable pollinator habitat construction.
The Hutchison IPM Lab will offer farmers recommendations for incorporating IPM principles into farming operations based on research and task-force findings. These recommendations will prioritize effective pest management in farming operations while also promoting bee health.
Extension Educators:
Extension Educators will learn about commercial beekeeping, backyard beekeeping, planting for bees, pesticides, wild bees, the effects of pesticides in landscapes, and pollinator policy and outreach. They will also learn how to provide pollinator education to the public.
INTERMEDIATE OUTCOMES
Beekeeping Associations:
Beekeepers who attend the field day will train members of their organizations on Varroa monitoring and management strategies.
Beekeepers will monitor Varroa monthly throughout the beekeeping season, report mite levels to the MiteCheck website, and use the site’s interactive features to learn about bee health in their local area. They will apply IPM principles to Varroa management.
Beekeepers will plant and/or advocate for planting nectar and pollen-rich flowers to increase bee nutrition. Conventional
Farmers:
Farmers will implement IPM principles into their own farming operations. Farmers will also plant bee and monarch habitat, including 2 acres of habitat using seeds distributed at the field day.
Extension Educators:
Extension educators will use the knowledge they gain through the field day and webinar to provide the best possible pollinator education and outreach. They will provide research-based pollinator information to their audiences, which may include farmers, beekeepers, gardeners, 4-H groups, and the public.
LONG-TERM OUTCOMES
By providing beekeepers with research-based recommendations and IPM strategies for monitoring and managing Varroa, the Bee Squad expects that mite levels will decrease in the North Central Region. Mite levels are tracked through the MiteCheck citizen science program.
As more backyard beekeepers monitor and manage mites and apply research-based recommendations to their beekeeping management, the Bee Squad expects to see a decrease in annual honey bee colony losses among backyard beekeepers. Participating beekeeping organizations will be asked to track Varroa levels and colony losses.
While the impacts of increased habitat are difficult to measure and more survey data are needed to track native bee populations, the Bee Squad hopes that the decline of some native bees will be slowed through an increase of habitat and a decrease in pesticide use. As the proposed professional development program contributes to national efforts to improve bee health, improved pollination of plants could lead to greater crop yields and more affordable food prices.
By highlighting bee forage projects and advocating for more of them, the Bee Squad expects an increased public awareness of the importance of nutrition in supporting bees in the North Central Region. By creating partnerships and information exchanges between beekeepers, farmers, Extension Educators and universities, the Bee Squad expects to see the development of additional innovative solutions to improving bee health. The Bee Squad and Hutchison IPM Lab expect farmers to become increasingly key players in transforming the agricultural landscapes of the North Central Region into zones that encourage and support pollinator activity.
Cooperators
Education
Our education approach for this project was to create an environment to bring together a diverse group of experts and stakeholders for a field day that included both formal and informal education. We encouraged individuals to communicate throughout the field day both within sessions and informally between sessions. Formal presentations (using PowerPoint) were structured so that attendees were able to learn about the challenges that specific groups faced (commerical beekeepers, backyard beekeepers, habitat growers and farmers). Experiential learning occurred with live beekeeping demonstrations for all participants (monitioring for the Varroa mite parasite), demonstrations of pollinator habitat (Pete Berthelson and Keith Johnson) and opportunities to learn about the challenges of commercial beekeeping from Daniel Whitney. Connections were made among the attendees using these approaches.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
Leaders of beekeeping associations, farmers, and Extension Educators from the midwest will participate in a Plant Seeds to Help Bees Field Day Summit.
The field day happened this July 2018 at our Horst Rechelbacher Pollinator Project site in Osceola, WI, where Bee Squad has spent 5 years planting over 12 acres of food for honey bees and native pollinators. Educational presentations focussed on the importance of integrated pest management for both beekeepers and farmers, the honey bee parasite Varroa destructor and pollinator habitat. Seventy attendees were present at this event. Beekeeper attendees were provided with a Bee Squad Varroa Mite Testing Kit. Attendees with at least 1 acre of land to plant were provided with pollinator habitat seed.
While the education on varroa, integrated pest management (IPM) and bee habitat was informative and well received by field day participants, the connections made by attendees from across traditional industry divides were highlights for many. It turned out that some of our attendees identified as hybrid bee people: there were farmers who were beekeepers and beekeepers who were pollinator educators, and some attendees were farmers, beekeepers, pollinator educators and habitat planters combined.
Just as the work of organic and conventional farmers can seem at odds, commercial and hobby beekeepers often feel the other group could do things differently. For example, lots of hobby beekeepers have received the message that commercial beekeepers are “the problem” with bee health. However, when they get an opportunity to talk with a commercial beekeeper, a shared commitment and love for their colonies, be it 1 or 1,000 is realized. At the field day, Dan Whitney (former MHPA President) earned rock-star status after sharing his experience and perspectives as a large-scale beekeeper.
Another star of the field day was Bee Squad’s own Farmer Keith. Keith Johnson is a conventional corn and soybean farmer---but actually, he’s anything but conventional. Back in 1996, long before bees were a buzzword, Keith was planting for pollinators. Keith joined Bee Squad in 2014, and has since sourced each part of the Bee Squad’s MiteCheck monitoring kit, designed and planted the pollinator habitat at the Horst Rechelbacher Pollinator Project Site, and informed Bee Squad’s biosecurity practices when it comes to managing bees. Most importantly though, Keith has taught us that conversations are powerful tools for change; that through conversations we can find common ground and sometimes even change our minds.
In the fall of 2018, Dan Whitney, Keith Johnson, the Bee Squad and Kristy Allen of Beez Keez shared a stage on a panel moderated by Rebecca Masterman called Pollinator Perspectives for the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s Pollinator Summit. The panel shared the Plant Seeds for Bees Field Day successes and provided the essential perspectives of both farmers and beekeepers invested in creating and managing pollinator habitat for a new audience of over 200. This audience (which included pollinator supporters, businesses and non-profits, scientists and educators) confirmed that first-hand perspectives and stories from the field helped them understand the nuanced habitat, health and economic challenges those in the bee and farming businesses face.
The Bee Squad and Hutchison lab has produced 2 webinars for Extension Educators, beekeepers, farmers, gardeners, 4-H groups, and the public about integrated pest managment and varroa mite management.
Two webinars that address integrated pest managment have been produced along with an additional slide presentation about the horizontal transmission of varroa mites.
The webinars had been hosted on the UMN Bee Lab website until its redesign in 2021 and were moved to its YouTube site in the same year. The graphics and slides that were created in this objective are still in use by Bee Lab memebers in theirpresentations to beekeepers and the public.
The webinars/Powerpoint presentations were able to break down the complex topic of integrated pest mangement (IPM) into easy to follow instructional guidelines. The concept of IPM is import in supporting pollinator health because of the goal of limited the use of pesticides. This idea is also important when managing honey bees because of the complexity of controlling the deadly vector/pest Varroa destructor. We did not foresee how much the material would be used by our own team and it was a significant and unpredicted benefit of this project.
The Bee Squad will present IPM principles to manage Varroa to regional and national beekeeping associations.
The Bee Squad presented the Varroa IPM principles developed within this project at the national American Beekeeping Federation conference in January 2019 as well as at meetings in Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Connecticut and Missouri.
We were able to:
- Train within associations on how to monitor and manage Varroa
- Teach the application of IPM in Varroa management
- Encourage monthly Varroa monitoring during the beekeeping season
- Stress varroa management importance in bee health
- Encourage pollinator plantings
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Learning Outcomes
Project Outcomes
Field Day:
While the education on varroa, integrated pest management (IPM) and bee habitat was informative and well received by field day participants, the connections made by attendees from across traditional industry divides were highlights for many. It turned out that some of our attendees identified as hybrid bee people: there were farmers who were beekeepers and beekeepers who were pollinator educators, and some attendees were farmers, beekeepers, pollinator educators and habitat planters combined.
Just as the work of organic and conventional farmers can seem at odds, commercial and hobby beekeepers often feel the other group could do things differently. For example, lots of hobby beekeepers have received the message that commercial beekeepers are “the problem” with bee health. However, when they get an opportunity to talk with a commercial beekeeper, a shared commitment and love for their colonies, be it 1 or 1,000 is realized. At the field day, Dan Whitney (former MHPA President) earned rock-star status after sharing his experience and perspectives as a large-scale beekeeper.
Another star of the field day was Bee Squad’s own Farmer Keith. Keith Johnson is a conventional corn and soybean farmer—but actually, he’s anything but conventional. Back in 1996, long before bees were a buzzword, Keith was planting for pollinators. Keith joined Bee Squad in 2014, and has since sourced each part of the Bee Squad’s MiteCheck monitoring kit, designed and planted the pollinator habitat at the Horst Rechelbacher Pollinator Project Site, and informed Bee Squad’s biosecurity practices when it comes to managing bees. Most importantly though, Keith has taught us that conversations are powerful tools for change; that through conversations we can find common ground and sometimes even change our minds.
In the fall of 2018, Dan Whitney, Keith Johnson, the Bee Squad and Kristy Allen of Beez Keez shared a stage on a panel moderated by Rebecca Masterman called Pollinator Perspectives for the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum’s Pollinator Summit. The panel shared the Plant Seeds for Bees Field Day successes and provided the essential perspectives of both farmers and beekeepers invested in creating and managing pollinator habitat for a new audience of over 200. This audience (which included pollinator supporters, businesses and non-profits, scientists and educators) confirmed that first-hand perspectives and stories from the field helped them understand the nuanced habitat, health and economic challenges those in the bee and farming businesses face.
Webinars/PowerPoint presentations:
The webinars/videos were an impactful tool for both the website and use within beekeeeper presentations. While integrated pest management is not a new tool for those fighting pests, it is a newer concept for beekeepers. We also found that it was a successful way to introduce the struggles that farmers face when fighting pests. It provided a place where beekeepers and farmers shared a common strategy. The materials produced in this project have been transformative in sharing pertinent information about bee health to beekeepers. This use has been a surprise benefit of this project as it allowed our graphic designer to create materials that were able to translate crtical, research based information to farmers and beekeepers.
Presentations to Beekeeping Organizations
Providing beekeepers with information about IPM and Varroa management was an important goal of this project. We were able to engage leaders of beekeeping organizations who invited us to present this information to their members. As an added benefit, a Plant Seeds for Bees Field Day recap was an important part of this communication. Here the audience learned about both pest management, the importance of farmers to pollinators and how to improve pollinator health via habitat installations.