Resilient Agriculture and Cold Storage Practices: Exploring Sustainable Solutions for Honey Bee Conservation

Resilient Agriculture and Cold Storage Practices: Exploring Sustainable Solutions for Honey Bee Conservation is sponsored by Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE). Explores the use of temperature and humidity-controlled units to protect honey bee colonies during winter, aiming to reduce colony losses.

Resilient Agriculture and Cold Storage Practices: Exploring Sustainable Solutions for Honey Bee Conservation - SARE Grant Management System View the project final report Animal Production: animal protection and health Crop Production: beekeeping Honey bee colony losses are regularly at unsustainable levels in PA and nationally.

Winter is the most vulnerable time for colonies, as floral resources are not available and temperatures fluctuate, so indoor storage in temperature/humidity-controlled units can greatly benefit beekeepers. Placement of bees into these units shields colonies from temperature fluctuations. In addition, placement of colonies into units early in fall can prevent the stress of being robbed of food by yellow jackets.

Here, we propose to move bees into overwintering storage units in early October for the winter, a comparison to work we are currently conducting (SARE Grant FNE23-050) with colonies moved into storage in mid-November. In addition, the units will be used during the warm months to control equipment pests, wax moths and small hive beetles, making the units more economically valuable.

In an effort to teach beekeepers about the utility of cold storage in beekeeping, a fact sheet will be created and published through Penn State Extension where it will be available online for no cost. In addition, each participant will hold an on-farm demonstration to showcase the usefulness of the cold storage units.

Project objectives from proposal: Developing Climate-Controlled Storage techniques of honey Bee Colonies utilizing Climate Smart Agriculture concepts to establish practices that will help Pennsylvania Beekeepers transition to more sustainable, climate change-proof management tactics. We will build on the research and findings discovered through research and data collected from SARE Grant FNE23-050.

That funding has highlighted areas where additional research and study is warranted in evaluating the benefits of using cold storage techniques at the four already established locations across Pennsylvania.

This multifaceted project aims to strengthen Pennsylvania's beekeeping and advance We will replicate portions of FNE23-050, but with an earlier storage date to shield bees from effectiveness of the cold storage to safeguard hive equipment from pests and the usefulness of the unit in spring and We will create a fact sheet about the use of cold storage for beekeeping in PA to empower beekeepers with greater control over their operations, offering valuable insights and guidance.

demonstrations, showcasing the benefits and small-scale viability of cold storage for beekeeping. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.