The Bee Informed Partnership was well represented at the Oregon State Beekeepers Association annual meeting held Nov. 6-8 in Seaside, Oregon. OSBA Vice President and BIP advisory committee member Dr. Dewey Caron directed events over the weekend and delivered a talk titled “How to Locally Rear Selected-Stock Queens”. The conference was attended by 250 people with diverse bee backgrounds including commercial operators, hobbyists, queen breeders, academics and vendors. There was a good turnout from our BIP-PNW partner beekeepers with several giving presentations.
BIP Co-Directors Dr. Dennis vanEngelsdorp and Dr. Marla Spivak were both in attendance with each giving multiple talks over the weekend. Ellen and I gave a presentation Saturday morning introducing ourselves as the BIP-PNW Tech Transfer Team and providing an update on what we’ve been up to this season and how we’ll be looking to meet PNW beekeeper needs going forward. We were able to present some summary results of the Varroa and Nosema sampling we carried out over the course of the season and share some preliminary findings on our work involving EFB/IDBS and pesticide residues on trapped pollen.
In addition to giving a presentation we also had BIP booth where we were able to elaborate on the goals of the Bee Informed Partnership and encourage beekeepers to participate. Overall it was an excellent event and we are appreciative of the OSBA providing an opportunity to promote BIP and interact with the beekeeping community of the Pacific Northwest. We look forward to attending the 2015 meeting that will be held in Silverton, OR
Further information on the Oregon State Beekeepers Association is available at orsba.org
