The joint conference of the North American Beekeeping Federation (ABF) and the American Honey Producers Association (AHPA) was held January 4 – 8^th at The San Luis Resort in Galveston, Texas.  Project Apis m. (PAm) was invited to what can only be described as THE industry conference of the year.  Over 1,300 attended the event - from small scale beekeepers to seasoned professionals.  Researchers and key industry-related organizations were brought together as well to share ideas and develop new contacts.

Project Apis m. advanced the science of bee molecular biology by leaps and bounds when Dr. Joseph DeRisi with the University of California, San Francisco, CA took the podium on Friday.  Dr. DeRisi unveiled his latest findings “Detection and Discovery of Honey Bee Associated Microbes – A Temporal Analysis of the Honey Bee Pathogens in a Large Scale Mobile Beekeeping Operation”.  At the request of PAm’s Executive Director, Christi Heintz, and under the direction of the PAm Board, DeRisi was asked to follow a commercial migratory beekeeping operation during the course of a year to see what’s in the hive.  To see “who is home” quipped Dr. DeRisi.  DeRisi and his crew targeted 20 hives and followed them from Mississippi to South Dakota to California, taking weekly samples.  

What he found in the hive is groundbreaking science.  Among the usual suspects of Nosema apis and ceranae, there was exciting news for bee scientists.  The DeRisi project has discovered four (4) new viruses in bees, a protozoan (Crithidia), a bacteria (Spiroplasma) and a fly (phorid fly) never before found in honey bees. DeRisi called the phorid fly “a honey bees worst nightmare”.  Phorid flies lay their eggs in the honey bee’s abdomen, take over their host and eventually alter the behavior of the honey bee.  This new pathogen, as reported by DeRisi, is just the beginning of the story, with more Ultra Deep Sequencing his cutting edge research will no doubt continue to reveal novel and highly divergent viral species.  Dr. Joseph DeRisi and his team of researchers will soon publish their findings.

Christi Heintz spoke to both the Apiary Inspectors of America and to the General Session.  PAm’s research focus and Best Management Practices (BMP’s) for Beekeeper’s Pollinating Agriculture Crops were the topics.  Dan Cummings, PAm’s Board Chairman, gave the audience an Almond Industry Perspective.

Projects Apis m. had a booth at the tradeshow event to distribute outreach educational materials on BMP’s for beekeepers in the form of brochures and also to debut six (6) one-page fact sheets on Best Management Practices, as well as to showcase PAm’s research funding.