My bees in Texas looked pretty good
3 weeks ago, and a friend's bees looked excellent this first week of
February. Even though our bees sit about 50 miles from the Gulf Coast
and natural pollen comes in good every few days, there is no drone brood
to speak of. Too many cold snaps. Even rare ice and snowstorms have
shut down drone production. Spring beekeeping in the deep south will be
behind schedule this year for sure. Early queens will be a problem.
Other than the weather, there's just a few things to report on. The
summer meeting will be in St. Cloud July 17,18,&19th at the Kelly
Inn. Jack Hoffman, our new vice president will have more info on that.
We are working on an off site activity. And, the folks from Ag in the
Classroom will put on a breakout session Friday the
18th after lunch. If you would like to learn how to do presentations
and how to approach schools in your area etc... this part of the program
is for you. We hope to have 30-50 beekeepers attend this session.
Gypsy moth quarantine for St. Louis and Cook counties. This doesn't
affect too many of us at this point, yet There is a comment period
coming up. Go to the MDA website to read up on it.
CRP,
I believe a new seed mix for honeybees is available. Heavy in
legumes. I also believe CRP payments have gone up, to make enrollment
more attractive to landowners. This new seed mix formulation must be
requested, they are not pushing it hard yet. I went to my local NRCS
office in late Jan. to order trees for a windbreak and to check on this
seed mix. It was very
frustrating. They knew nothing of the new seed formulation. Wanted to
plant the native stuff for me. I explained that it wasn't beneficial
to honeybees. They just shrugged. At my office, apparently they just
want to throw things in the ground and collect your $. When it came to
tree selection for my sandy soil, they didn't care what species I
selected. I believe if the MN DNR grew palm trees, they'd plant them
for me. Survivability didn't matter. I couldn't get them to check into
anything, had to keep insisting we print out the aerial photo and map
out what I wanted done. I will check again this spring on the seed
mix. Apparently, its too new yet.
Lastly, the bee lab for the university. The MHPA has pledged
$50,000.00 over 5 years to UofM honeybee lab construction. Conrad,
Jack, and
myself met with Cynthia Cashman from the University. She will be
looking for donors to match our pledge. She has a lot of ideas for
individuals and corporations to participate. She will be at our summer
convention and will speak for 20 minutes or so. She seems to be a real
go getter and will have more info on the status of the bee lab this
summer. Right now, the bee lab is in the bonding bill stage. At this
point it does not have a bill # attached to it yet. However, we need
people to contact their state reps to support this bill. Last year, it
failed by 4 or 5 votes mainly because Gov. Dayton said he would veto
it. This year at last report, he is in favor of it. However, this
doesn't make it a slam dunk. The politicians were impressed last year
by our industry's support for the lab. We need to impress them again.
This year is our best chance of getting it
passed. The passage of the bill, will ensure that Minnesota will have a
honeybee program at the University of Minnesota forever. Mn beekeepers
will be the direct beneficiaries of the new bee lab. That's why the
MHPA is pledging $50k towards the construction. This level of support
will help in passage of the bill. Due to the importance of the lab to
the Upper Midwest, we believe beekeepers and non-beekeepers alike from
the region will support our efforts.
Everyone, take care, hope your bees are fine, and please take a few
minutes to email your state representatives. An e-blast will be sent
out to all MHPA members on the gypsy moth and bee lab issues
Thanks,
Dan Whitney
pres. MHPA
