CATCH THE BUZZ: Honey Board Funds Bee Research

NHB Funds New Bee Research Projects For 2015

The National Honey Board has approved funding for ten new research projects focusing on honey bee health. The Board’s Research Committee, with input from an independent panel of experts, selected the projects from 22 proposals received from researchers around the world. The total dollar commitment for the ten projects is $231,800. In addition, the Board’s 2015 budget includes $61,366 for ongoing bee research projects from prior years.

The ten new projects approved for funding in 2015 include:

  • “Investigating the roll of pathogens on honey bee colony health,” Flenniken/Montana State University.
  • “A temporal analysis of honey bee colony heath in migratory beekeeping operations: Assessment of the relative contributions of agrochemical residues, pathogen incidence and abundance and pest loads to colony declines,” Kegley/Pesticide Research Institute & Pollinator.
  • “Evaluating the potential benefits of native prairie flowers for honey bees,” Spivak/University of Minnesota.
  • “The probiotic potential of Lactobacillus Kunkeei for honey production,” McFrederick/University of California.
  • “Influence of Varroa mite (Varroa destructor) levels and management practices on insecticide sensitivity in the honey bee,” Rinkevich/Louisiana State University.
  • “Drought induced impacts on honey bee nutrition and productivity,” Rankin/University of California.
  • “Effect of commonly used agrochemicals and their interactions on honey bee colony health,” Sagili/Oregon State University.
  • “Understanding how nutritional source and behavioral state interact and influence resistance to abiotic stressors in honey bees,” Ottea/Louisiana State University Ag Center.
  • “Effects of inducible reactive oxygen species production on Nosema ceranae infection,” Snow/Barnard College/Columbia University.
  • “Field exposure and toxicity of neonicotinoid insecticides to honey bees via flowering field margins: The importance of continual pesticide exposure in bee forage,” Lundgren/USDA-ARS, NCARL.

Honey bee research projects funded by the National Honey Board are listed on the Board’s website, www.honey.com. Visitors can click on the “Honey Industry” tab and then go to “Honey and Bee Research” for further information on ongoing and completed projects. The call for proposals for 2016 funding is expected to be posted on the Board’s website by the end of July, with proposals due by early-November.

The National Honey Board is an industry-funded agriculture promotion group that works to educate consumers about the benefits and uses for honey and honey products through research, marketing and promotional programs.