APIS Volume 14, Number 6 June 1996
In this issue
- Reflections on the Apis Newsletter
- More on Forgotten Pollinators
- IFAS Resources Catalog
- Updated Computer Spreadsheet Model
- Getting Rid of Bee Swarms-Video
- Another Florida Winner-- 4-H Essay Contest
- More on Rising Honey Prices
- World Winter Varroa Kill
REFLECTIONS ON THE APIS NEWSLETTER
This newsletter, like many things in modern day life, is continuously changing. What was once only a paper document has metamorphosed into an electronic publication with a larger audience than was ever possible in the past (see October and December 1994, December 1995 APIS). A recent comment by a reader in Germany questioned the relevance of articles in the April 1996 number on honey bee domestication and on sex determination. Although entertaining, he asked if the newsletter's function was not to report serious research from institutions of higher learning?
In order to better understand this newsletter's mission, the first thing to keep in mind is that APIS is a Florida Cooperative Extension Publication. This brings with it certain conditions imposed by what many simply call "extension." In the broadest sense, extension is relaying information to people to improve their lives. Originally, extension was strictly agricultural in nature, but it has had to change as fewer and fewer people make their living directly off the land. In the rush to evolve, however, extension has had to decide what is appropriate for it to do. The wisdom of the ages tells us there are not enough resources to be all things to all people. The other key word is Florida; it should be relevant to interests of persons in the state as the local citizens help pay the bills to produce the newsletter.
A recent commentary by Peter Bloome in The Leadership Journey, National Extension Leadership Development Program, Vol. 5, No. 2, Spring 1996, addresses some of the dos and don'ts as he sees them:
- Extension should focus on helping people put knowledge to work; acquiring, freely sharing, analyzing and applying knowledge.
- Extension should concentrate on providing services for learning; it should only do things that people can't do themselves.
- Extension should help people understand the world in broad terms; it succeeds when people move through its programs and go on to other learning.
- Extension should promote a balance between technical information (perishable knowledge) and learning how to learn (non- perishable skills); it must be reliable, objective and responsible.
- Extension should help develop the private sector and not compete with it. It should also promote group development, but not be an advocate for any particular association.
APIS fits the above guidelines pretty well. In keeping with the goal of extension as a change agent, the newsletter is not only adapting to changing clientele, but leading the way in providing quality information in a variety of ways. Beyond that, I have assiduously worked toward another goal, uniqueness. The articles mentioned above fall under the latter category. Nowhere else in literature directed toward beekeepers are essays on the meaning of domestication or reflections on comparisons between sex determination in humans and honey bees. I would be interested in hearing what others in the audience might think about the content, form and other characteristics of this newsletter.
MORE ON FORGOTTEN POLLINATORS
A continuous stream of information about one topic across the Internet is referred to as a "thread." Most recently, the topic has been lack of honey bees for pollination. One discussant asked: "Prior to the Europeans coming to the New World and bringing honey bees along, what was responsible for pollination? Were there some kind of wild bees here before the Europeans' arrival?"
Dr. Douglas Yanega, Illinois Natural History Survey, answered that query: "There were and still are some 3,000 native North American bee species that got along just fine before Europeans came along, including specialist pollinators of things like blueberries, squash, sunflower, and many other native crop plants. Historically, folks have found it simpler to (in essence) assume that honeybees were the answer to everything, and work with them, even if it's a round-peg-in-square-hole sort of fit in many cases. Alfalfa is one of the few crops where honeybees were so bad at pollination that people did start long ago to utilize native pollinators instead, and recently there has been increasing use of native pollinators for blueberries and apples (and of course the use of bumblebees as greenhouse pollinators). On the whole though, funding for research into alternative pollinators has been quite scarce - perhaps now there will be more pressure to investigate how to exploit or manage native pollinators for commercial purposes, but one never knows."
One way that pressure is being applied is through the Forgotten Pollinators Campaign (see March 1996 APIS). I have received the campaign's Speakers Directory which lays out the strategy to inform all parts of society about the importance of animals that pollinate. It contains a 10-point policy statement to protect pollination services. A list of distinguished speakers is available for conferences and other events. Finally, a slide set and accompanying script are available for two-week rental at $50. To contact the campaign, write Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, 2021 N. Kinney Rd., Tucson, AZ 85743, ph 520/883- 3007, fax 520/883-5200 or email: fpollen@azstartnet.com.
IFAS RESOURCES CATALOG
The Spring/Summer 1996 Resources Catalog has just been issued by IFAS at the University of Florida. This eye-catching publication lists a huge array of titles separated into Home and Garden, Pesticide Training and Safety, and Farm and Industry, for sale in flash card, handbook, manual and identification guide format. CD-ROM databases (containing circulars and fact sheets on beekeeping and dozens of other topics on FAIRS) and agricultural software are also featured. Of special interest is an index to phone numbers of all Florida's extension offices and research and education centers. For a copy of the catalog, phone 352/392-1764 or write IFAS Publications, University of Florida, P.O. Box 110011, Gainesville, FL 32611-0011.
UPDATED COMPUTER SPREADSHEET MODEL
Although the IFAS Resources Catalog continues to list my profitability model software (Profitability Model for a Mid- sized Beekeeping Operation), this will be the last issue to do so. The information has been incorporated into an updated version by Drs. Lois Willett and Nicholas Calderone at Cornell University. Entitled Bee Economics, this model runs under Windows 3.1 on IBM compatible machines [386 machines with 4 megs of RAM using Excel(R) 4.0] and Macintosh(R) with 4 megs RAM and Excel(R) 4.0.
Bee Economics consists of three modules, each containing a suite of spreadsheets. They are Bee Planner, Record Keeping (Investment, Expense, Revenue and Cashflow) and Enterprise Analysis. The latter is particularly significant because a single beekeeping operation can be broken down into several activities (i.e. honey production and sales, commercial pollination, package bee and queen production). Each of these can be analyzed independently of, as well as in conjunction with, the whole operation. Questions about the model should be directed to Dr. Willett, Dept. of Agricultural, Resource and Managerial Economics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-7801, ph 607/255-4489, fax 607/255-9984, email lsw2@cornell.edu.
Bee Economics sells for $39 plus $5 shipping and handling. Income from sales goes toward future economic research on the beekeeping industry. Copies are available from Dr. Marion Ellis, American Association of Professional Apiculturists (AAPA), 210 Plant Industry Building, Lincoln, NE 68583-0816, or the AAPA Home Page at http://ianrwww.unl.edu/ianr/entomol/beekpg/aapapubs.htm. That World Wide Web site also has several other publications available to beekeepers. Although my model has been superseded, the printed version is still available on the FAIRS CD-ROM and World Wide Web: http://hammock.ifas.ufl.edu/txt/fairs/617.
GETTING RID OF BEE SWARMS
A new video has been released by the College of Agriculture at the University of Arizona. That state now has Africanized honey bees which may swarm/abscond several times per year. This production informs residents in down-to-earth language about removing temporary swarms before they become established colonies.
The Homeowner's Guide to Safe Honey Bee Swarm Control explains the critical differences between swarms, colonies and foraging bees. It concludes that foraging bees are not significant problems, but that established colonies must be avoided at all costs and only be removed by professionals. Swarms, on the other hand, because they are usually less defensive and more exposed, can often be killed by homeowners before they take up residence, becoming potentially defensive established colonies. The video takes the do-it-yourselfer through a step-by-step guide to killing free-standing swarms.
To order this video, send a check for $30 payable to The University of Arizona to Agricultural Communications Systems, Attn: Video on Swarm Control, The University of Arizona, 715 N. Park Ave., Tucson, AZ 85719. I have a more specialized fact sheet on removing established colonies, ENY 132, Removing Honey Bee Nests. It is available by mail, on CD-ROM or World Wide Web ( http://hammock.ifas.ufl.edu/txt/fairs/897).
ANOTHER FLORIDIAN WINNER- 4-H ESSAY CONTEST
Congratulations to Nicholas Saconchik-Pytel of Tallahassee, FL for winning third prize in this year's 4-H Essay Contest sponsored by the American Beekeeping Federation. This is the second year that state 4-H'ers have placed third. There were only eight (8) Florida entrants in 1996 so the odds remain very high of winning simply by entering.
Next year's competition has been announced. The subject will be a "news event" in the bee colony. Suggested examples of titles include: "Bees Robbed of Hoard of Honey" (beekeeper harvests the honey crop); "Queen and Loyalists Flee Anarchists" (swarm leaves to set up new colony); "Helpless Drones Cast Out by Workers" (drones driven from colony in preparation for winter); "New Queen Takes the Throne" (bees replace failing or dead queen).
Using a news report format, develop an essay exploring the "event" and relate it to the honey bee life cycle and the role of bees in a colony. Essays must be based on facts (referenced by endnotes), however, the tone might be sensational (tabloid), straight (evening news) or in-depth feature, including "quotes" from affected bees. For a complete copy of the rules, contact the American Beekeeping Federation, P.O. Box 1038, Jesup, GA 31598. Each state decides its own winner which will be forwarded to the Federation for final judging. Entries forwarded from 4-H agents are due in my office by February 1, 1997 to be eligible for the 1997 contest.
MORE ON RISING HONEY PRICES
Escalating honey prices continue to be on many people's minds. Mr. Roy Sterling, General Manager of Alberta Honey Producers Cooperative Limited recently published information from Statistics Canada on honey prices and volumes exported to the United States. The following graphically shows how precipitous the increase has been (all figures are U.S. dollars):
Jul 1995 .85 million pounds; average price of 56.0 cents/pound Aug
1995 3.88 million pounds; average price of 60.4 cents/pound Sep
1995 3.01 million pounds; average price of 61.1 cents/pound Oct
1995 2.14 million pounds; average price of 66.6 cents/pound Nov
1995 1.62 million pounds; average price of 68.5 cents/pound Dec
1995 1.31 million pounds; average price of 71.8 cents/pound Jan
1996 1.07 million pounds; average price of 70.9 cents/poundMr. Sterling is now seeing quotes of $.93 to $1.04 per pound for good white clover honey. Besides a reduction in commercial pollination and increased incentive to economically adulterate as I stated in the last issue of this newsletter (see May 1996 APIS), Mr. Sterling raises a further concern about the magnitude of this increase. "I hope the beekeeping industry doesn't price their product to a point where the consumers find alternatives for their needs."
SIDEBAR-WORLD WINTER VARROA KILL
World winter Varroa kill estimates taken off the Internet from Matysek Miroslav of the Czech Republic based on Apimondia discussions in Rome, May 1996:
- World - about 25% (13 of 50 million colonies)
- Austria - about 70%
- German - about 45 - 50%, local even 80%
- Slovakia - about 35 - 40%
- Czech republic - about 20%
Malcolm T. Sanford
Bldg 970, Box 110620
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
Phone (904) 392-1801, Ext. 143 FAX: 904-392-0190
http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~entweb/apis/apis.htm
INTERNET Address: MTS@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU
©1996 M.T. Sanford "All Rights Reserved
