Forage Goal Exceeded!
PAm met and exceeded its Year 1 goal in California. The aim was to enroll 10% of the state's almond growers in the 'Seeds for Bees' forage project. We exceeded that number. With over 130 growers and over 1,500 acres sowed with thousands of pounds of clovers, mustards and vetch, these bee pastures will help provide bees with a polyfloral diet. This was made...
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possible with help from beekeepers, bee brokers, seed funding from Monsanto and coverage from ag media outlets. The buzz spread up and down the Central Valley that PAm had free seeds that would provide orchardists with a soil enhancing cover crop while providing food for their pollinators. The project winds down this month as the seeds require sowing by mid-to-late November for them to bee a benefit. First to flower will be the PAm Mustard Mix, November through January, followed by the almond bloom in February and then Capay Clover mix and Lana Vetch in the spring.
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Thirsty Bees? Hot bees?
Hydrate them at the Border Stations
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Migratory beekeepers bringing their colonies into CA this coming pollination season will have access to water at Benton, Blythe Needles, Truckee & Yermo. The CA Dept of Food & Ag (CDFA) installed multiple heavy duty hoses that will extend from the water lines to shippers' trucks to provide water to the bees. This was co-funded by CSBA, PAm and the Almond Board of California.
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How Can You Help?
Make Your Contribution to PAm
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 | | BEE Part of the Solution! |
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| Mark your Calendar
Oct 31 - Nov 2 Oregon
Nov 10 -13 ESA
Nov 18 - 22 CSBA
Dec 3 - 5 Almond Board
Jan 7 - 11 AHPA
Jan 7 - 11 ABF
For quick links click here!
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Bee Informed Partnership and the USDA have piloted a program to aid beekeepers. ERK is designed to rule out causes of large scale, suspicious colony loss through small scale sampling. The cost of the kit without pesticide analysis is $80. PAm offers a cost-share program for pesticide analyses of hive matrices. View lab directory.
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Happy Thanksgiving from PAm
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Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving this month. The holiday is a time for families and friends to gather and give thanks. Traditionally, the day is celebrated with a dinner, and the turkey has a central role in the celebration. This year, think about those side dishes and the role of the honey bee. Our favorite trimmings, all pollinated by bees. Cranberry sauce and stuffing with celery and onions, perhaps seasoned with cardamom, caraway, coriander and allspice. Family recipes passed down for generations of vegetable dishes. Beets, squash, turnips, zucchini, eggplant, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussels sprouts. If you are still feeling hungry, there is dessert. Enjoy a slice of pumpkin, peach, cherry or apple pie. Or maybe your favorite is blueberry, boysenberry, raspberry, or blackberry pie. The PAm board, scientific advisors and staff would like to take this opportunity to thank all beekeepers for their support, hard work and commitment. Without you, without bees, our Thanksgiving table would not be as blessed and as bountiful.
Meg Ribotto, Editor
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| PAm Website - New Look, New Tabs |
New additions include Videos and Blogs and up-to-date PAm funded Research and Supporters. We will continue to bring you the Wardell and Cummings Reports, as well as BMPs, Forage, Events and the Latest News. Let us know what you think!
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North Dakota Honey Promotion Fund Donates $25,000 to PAm
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Will Nissen, NDBA President presents a check to
Christi Heintz, PAm Executive Director
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Project Apis m. was invited to speak at the North
Dakota Annual Beekeepers Convention in Mandan on October 11th. A generous donation of $25K was presented to PAm to continue the research efforts of Dr. Reed Johnson at Ohio State University. Dr. Johnson is studying the effects of Dimilin and Insect Growth Regulators (IGR's) on honey bees. Thank you for your donation. Board members Joe Traynor, Zac Browning and John Miller were also at the Mandan meeting.
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Published with Monies from PAm
Two scientific research studies that PAm has funded have been published. In the peer reviewed, open-access (PLOS ONE), Dr. Michelle Flenniken, Montanta State University, and her team investigated honey bee antiviral defense mechanisms.
'Non-Specific dsRNA-Mediated Antiviral Response in the Honey Bee' click here.
The 'Effect of a Fungicide and Spray Adjuvant on Queen-Rearing Success in Honey Bees' by Dr. Reed Johnson and his colleagues has been published in BioOne. This study investigated the effect of Pristine on honey bees, using Dimilin as a positive control. Dimilin proved to have more of an impact on the survival of immature queens than Pristine. To read more, click here. PAm is currently funding the second phase of Dr. Johnson's research on Dimilin and other Insect Growth Regulators (IGRs).
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 Beekeepers: Are You Listed?
The Almond Board
re-structured its Pollination Directory. The Directory provides growers with information they need for pollination services. Beekeepers and bee brokers, make sure you are listed and your information is up-to-date! Log on to the Pollination Directory by following this link. The Almond Board would like the directory to be current for the 2014 bloom, so act now. If you have any questions or need assistance adding your information to their website, contact Debye Hunter, (209)-343-3230 or e-mail her at dhunter@almondboard.com. On behalf of the Almond Board, thank you for your participation and best wishes on a successful almond pollination season. PAm has an almond pollination contract template that can viewed here.
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 Watch PAm's YouTube Video
Preparing Colonies for CA for Pollination Services
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