Queen and Drone Viability, Honey Fraud and Apimondia with Dr. Jeff Pettis (S2, E27)

Dr. Jeff Pettis left the USDA some time ago to pursue other avenues of research. His current work is studying issues with queens, primarily longevity, affect of pesticides, virus interactions, shipping problems and more. Relatedly, he is working with drones, which of course play a big role in how queens produce. He’s looking at sperm issues, affects of pesticides, mating problems, heat stress and mating success.

He’s also working with varroa resistance to miticides, affects of miticides on queens, workers and drones and essentially what is working, and what isn’t and why.

In-between research projects, he is expanding his beekeeping operation with his son, running up to 75 colonies, doing some local pollination work, and producing and selling his honey at local outlets.

In his 'spare' time... he has been serving as the Bee Health Commissioner for the International Beekeeping Association Apimondia for the past 8 or 9 years, and in 2019 was the first American Elected President of that group. His goals are to establish better communication between the group and the worlds beekeepers and to concentrate on global honey fraud, a major issue everywhere.

Listen in and learn much more about Apimondia and what the future holds as the first American President takes over with a new and exciting agenda.

Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode –

• Apimondia: https://www.apimondia.com
• Google Scholar for Dr. Pettis: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C48&q=jeff+pettis&btnG=
• The Hive Butler: https://www.thehivebutler.com

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This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum.

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: [email protected]

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"