Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:This project involved assembling beekeepers, apicultural scientists and other relevant stakeholders to discuss new ways to approach the Varroa problem in honey bee hives. The target audience consisted, primarily, of those attending the workshop held at the Nationwide 4-H Center on The Ohio State University Columbus campus on November 30 and December 1, 2016. Those in attendance included nine large commercial beekeepers, 10university faculty or extension personnel, four graduate students, three state goverment employees andseven other stakeholders representing NGOs, companies and commodities involved in the honey bee sphere. Additionally, approximately 70 beekeepers that were not represented at the meeting contributed their thoughts through a structured survey on the topic of Varroa control. Since this was a planning meeting to develop a larger proposal to the Specialty Crop Research Initiative program the researchers involved in grant writing were the primary target audience for these activities. The priorities regarding Varroa control held by beekeepers and other stakeholders were effectively communicated to the researchers and will be reflected in subsequent proposals. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Graduate students and a postdoctoral research associate participated in the workshop and the beekeeper survey component was the basis for a chapter in the M.S. thesis of a student in the Environmental Sciences Graduate Program at The Ohio State University. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Since this was a planning grant the primary community of interest is the researchers themselves as they work to assemble a larger grant to address the problems identified in the course of this project. Additionally, a summary of the proceedings was published in Ohio Beekeeping, the newsletter of the Ohio State Beekeepers Association. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1) to identify barriers to beekeepers at different scales (hobbyist to commercial) in achieving effective Varroa and virus control Beekeepers were queried using both a survey instrument (70 respondants) and an in-person workshop (9 beekeeper participants)to identify barriers to effective Varroa virus control. The in-person workshop was particularly focused on large commercial beekeepers that provide the bulk of pollination services for specialty crops in the US and it was determined that future research and extension efforts need to be primarly focused on solving the problems faced by this group of beekeepers that is of utmost important for agricultural productivity. While there continue to be a number of barriers facing hobbyist beekeepers largley related to philosophy and training, the workshop identified two key barriers experience by large scale beekeepers: 1. Lack of preceived reliabilityand efficacy of current control approaches available on the market and 2. Unpredictablility ofmite populations in colonies and apiaries. 2) identify Varroa and virus control tactics that can be combined into viable tailored strategies that can be applied to reduce colony mortality for diverse beekeepers in the U.S. Varroa mite population modeling was identified as a key strategy to aid beekeepers in identifying situations in which mite control interventions would be most effective and economical. 3) identify gaps in existing strategies, as perceived by different beekeepers, that require additional research. Much additional work is needed in mite population modeling to account for regional, seasonal and other sources of variability in mite populations. While current models are in active development none of these were found to be suitable for beekeepers use. Extension efforts would need to be focused on making models useful for beekeepers as predictive tools. Additionally, new Varroa control compounds and formulations of existing compounds are needed to address efficacy and resistance issues.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Johnson, RM. 2017. The future of Varroa Control. Ohio Beekeeping. 6(2):18
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Riusech, N. S. 2017. Varroa mite control in honey bee colonies: The use of a fatty acid blend (C8910) for Varroa mite control and exploring management practices used by beekeepers (M.S.). The Ohio State University.
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