Bayer’s Second Bee Care Tour
Bayer CropScience launched its second annual Bee Care Tour, a mobile tour designed to emphasize the important role bees play, last week in Pullman, Wash. The Tour included an interactive exhibit with two frames of honey in a mobile hive, stewardship workshops and expert presentations on issues impacting pollination and bee health.
Highlights from the launch included:
- A panel discussion moderated by Dr. Steve Sheppard, one of the nation’s leading entomologists and honey bee researchers at Washington State University. Dr. Sheppard was joined by Dr. Doug Walsh, professor at Washington State University; Dr. Alan Schreiber, president of the Agriculture Development Group; and Brandon Hopkins and Natalie Boyle, two doctoral candidates at Washington State University.
- A featured presentation on bee health and pest management practices from Dr. David Fischer, director of Environmental Toxicology and Risk Assessment at Bayer CropScience.
- A Bee Care Tour exhibit that featured an interactive display on Bayer’s Varroa mite research, new Bee Care Center and Fluency Agent trials and development. The exhibit included a honey tasting bar with six different flavors of honey, including a local honey produced in Pullman, Wash.
A pollinator-inspired lunch, including foods pollinated by honey bees. - Bayer’s mobile Bee Care Tour aims to facilitate education and collaboration among growers, beekeepers and researchers to promote best stewardship practices and bee health. Specifically, the Tour provides information on the vital role honey bees play in sustainable agriculture, and raises awareness of the health challenges impacting honey bee populations.
“At Bayer, we strongly believe that advancing sustainable solutions for honey bee health requires ongoing collaboration with partners and stakeholders,” said Becky Langer-Curry, manager of the North American Bee Care Program. “Through our mobile Bee Care Tour stop, Bayer successfully fostered interaction directly with supporters of bee health in Washington to heighten discussion, increase awareness regarding good stewardship practices and encourage the sharing of ideas.”
The Bee Care Tour will also travel to: University of California in Davis (Feb. 12); Oregon State University in Corvallis (Feb. 18); Commodity Classic in San Antonio (Feb. 27-March 1); South Dakota State University in Brookings (March 12); Purdue University in West Lafayette (March 20); and last, but not least, the Tour will make a final stop in Washington, D.C. to celebrate National Pollinator Week (June 16-23) at the United States Botanic Gardens.
