“Discover the European Honeyland” was the motto of this year’s Apimondia in Ukraine and 8000 visitors and 100 exhibitors from all over the world took up the invitation. The members from the Bayer Bee Care and Bayer Animal Health teams attending the congress & exhibition took the opportunity to share information about some of the research projects and state-of-the-art equipment they are developing with external collaborators, to improve bee health.
The Bee Care stand was a busy meeting point for journalists, scientists and thousands of beekeepers seeking information, advice and innovations. Among the scientific visitors to the stand was Jeff Pettis, Research Leader at the USDA Beltsville bee laboratory in Maryland, USA, who was interested to learn more about a new diagnostic tool being co-developed to help beekeepers combat Varroa mite.
Bayer was also involved in the scientific aspects at Apimondia. Presentations included a report on the effectiveness of the innovative Varroa Gate, a device being developed to prevent infestation and re-infestation of bee colonies, and a paper showing the importance of miticide rotation with different modes of action to prevent resistance among Varroa populations. Bayer also participated in a roundtable discussion on pesticides and bees which focused on the decision to restrict neonicotinoid use in Europe. While this decision was intended as a step to enhance bee safety, Bayer panelist, Dr. Christian Maus, presented long-term monitoring data, which indicate that the product suspensions are unlikely to improve the bee health situation in Europe.
Closing the gap between scientists and beekeepers
As in previous years, Apimondia offered ample opportunities to network with colleagues and bee enthusiasts from all over the world. Professor emeritus Nikolaus Koeniger from the Bee Research Institute at Frankfurt University highlights the added value of the event: “Closing the gap between practical apiculture and scientific developments is an important mission of the congress. This dialog is important for all of us. Scientists would lose a lot of their economic significance and influence, if we lost touch with the practice of beekeeping.”
The global bee community can meet again at Apimondia in 2015 in South Korea.
A special-edition Apimondia Bee Care newsletter is available which provides lots of additional information about the recent event and the activities of the Bayer Bee Care team while they were there. To receive this special Apimondia edition and other regular Bee Care newsletters in the future, just register at the Bee Care website: http://beecare.bayer.com/register
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