WOW beekeepers know how to throw a conference! I recently returned to Maryland after attending the eastern apiculture society meeting and it was really fun. Andrew and I talked to tons of people at our booth about BIP, but we also got to enjoy several of the talks and other activities offered at EAS.
Sometimes people would come by the booth just to say something nice about BIP. I really enjoyed talking with people who were already participating in some of our initiatives, such as the management survey, or our Tier 4 pilot program. It helps get through some of the more tedious tasks in the lab when you can imagine an actual person at the other end of the line.
We also just got to talk a lot about beekeeping. There is one thing I’ve been hearing over and over: People are still losing A LOT of bees, inexplicably. I can’t begin to diagnose why any one person lost a hive but it reinforces the importance of taking data and making information available.
Although it is easy to fall into a pit of gloom and doom when talking about whats going on with the bees, I found there was a hopeful and supportive atmosphere at EAS. The shear diversity of research on honeybees is really encouraging, we saw talks on everything from diet, habitat, management styles, toxicology, disease, queens, larvae, feral colonies, and pro-biotics to name a few. All of this research is being conducted with the goal of making beekeeping as sustainable as it used to be. Thank you EAS for a wonderful time!
Currently I am at the Penn State International Conference on Pollinator Biology, Health, and Policy with Nathalie and Meghan. We are having a wonderful time at this beautiful location and talking with scientists from all over the world! The masters student in me is really looking forward to the poster session tonight to get a wide view of what exciting new research is going on not just on honeybees but all manner of pollinators.
.-Grace
