Abstracts

Jason Marshall

VARROA - A NEW ZEALAND PERSPECTIVE

9.10-10.00 Thursday 6th July

• My journey to date
• Varroa, What is it? How serious is it?
• Tactics and best practice for managing Varroa in my experience
• How the strips work
• Placement, Treatment and Timing
• Re-queening and brood breaks for varroa management
• Educating our beekeepers
• Hive Checking schedule for early issue detection and training in the hives
• Managing varroa on stressed bees
• Conclusion and Q & A

Gary Paterson, Manager of Food, Fibre and Animal Industries, Melbourne Polytechnic

NEW NATIONALLY RECOGNISED QUALIFICATIONS FOR BEEKEEPING

11.00 am – 12.00 pm Thursday 6th July 2023

Enrolments open in May 2023!

This new training opportunity acknowledges the critical role that beekeepers play in food sustainability and security. We are honoured to play a part in ensuring a future with skilled, engaged and passionate beekeepers.

Melbourne Polytechnic extends its gratitude to all industry experts who have given their time and shared their expertise in developing the national recognised AHC 31818 Certificate III in Beekeeping. We are pleased to share that delivery will commence in July 2023.

Conference delegates will have the opportunity to view and walk through the fully equipped mobile training unit.

MP acknowledges the support of the Victorian Government in this exciting training initiative.

For further information contact:

• P: 1300 635 276
• E: courses@melbournepolytechnic.edu.au
• W: melbournepolytechnic.edu.au/enquiry

Lindsay Callaway

TAKING THE STING OUT of large scale QUEEN CELL AND NUC REARING

3.30 – 4.00 pm Thursday 6th July 2023

Large scale cell rearing and large scale Nuc rearing that can translate to beekeepers of all sizes.

Step by step, easy to follow, easy to scale up effective way to produce quality cells with a proven system. Using a queen right hive, from a reputable breeder queen, your queen cells will be excellent.

Two different yet effective ways to produce nucs that is fluid and effective from 1 to 1000’s of nucs. One is lifting brood above the excluder, a tried and tested way. The other is what I personally learned in the USA 2019, “chimneying” brood, no excluder.

Looking forward to unpacking these systems for you!

Ken Gell – Chairman, Ian Cane & the other Regional Managers

VAA RESOURCES COMMITTEE REPORT

4.30-5.00 pm Thursday 6th July

The presentation today will focus on your representatives to your areas and what the committee has been working on over the past twelve months.

Adam Maxwell, Biosecurity Officer- Apiary and Ally Driessen, Bee Biosecurity Officer- Apiary

INTRODUCTION TO THE ROLE OF AGRICULTURE VICTORIA AND THE AUSTRALIAN HONEYBEE BIOSECURITY CODE OF PRACTICE

8.00-8.20 pm Thursday 6th July

Ally Driessen and Adam Maxwell will take people new to beekeeping, or those needing to brush up on their skills through the Biosecurity Code of Practice. Come along to ensure you are fulfilling all of your legal obligations as a beekeeper and helping to keep industry and your hives safe from pests and diseases.

Lindsay Callaway

2023 AGRIFUTURES GROW AG. INNOVATION IMMERSION TOUR SUMMARY

09.00-10.00 Friday 7th July.

The tour created an opportunity to access technology that could be adopted within the beekeeping industry. It will also include the 2023 Salinas Biological Summit. Including field trips Central Valley where Lindsay will have meet with major growers. Stone fruit, grapes (table and wine), nuts and other hort products.

The purpose of the immersion Tour is to create a firsthand learning and development experience of what is happening elsewhere in the world.

JAMES ROWE

APIARY - FARM BUSINESS RESILIENCE PROGRAM PILOT

10.30-11.00  Friday 7th July

The course aimed to develop the knowledge and skills apiarists need to improve their businesses and be better equipped to manage the impacts of drought and a changing climate. The course covered; Business and finance tools, succession planning, people management, Climate risk – consequence planning, natural disaster preparedness, apiary biosecurity and varroa mite experiences from a NZ beekeeper.

In total 9 beekeepers participated in the pilot workshops.

Professor Travis Beddoe

NEW FIELD-BASED TESTING OF AFB AND EFB

1.00-1.30 pm Friday 7th July 2023

Annual losses of managed honeybee populations have increased significantly during the last several decades. Multiple environmental stress factors, including pathogens, agrochemical exposure, lack of quality forage, and reduced habitat, have a negative impact on bee health.

Asymptomatic infection of honey bees with pathogens can cause sudden deaths due to environmental stress, such as routine inspection of hives. The opening of hives increases the bee’s stress level, which can take hours or sometimes days to recover, harming the bee's health and productivity. There is a need to develop non-invasive methods to enable the early detection of bee and hive health problems.

Recent research has focused on the development of rapid in-field non-invasive sampling and detection of bee pathogens. The base of this test is the use of nucleic acid amplification technology termed loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). It is regarded as an ideal diagnostic tool due to its rapidity, robustness, high sensitivity and specificity in identifying target nucleic acids.

We have developed LAMP assays against two of the most economically significant bacterial diseases of honey bees - Melissococcus plutonius, the causative agent of European foulbrood (EFB-LAMP) and Paenibacillus larvae, the causative agent of American foulbrood (AFB-LAMP. Both LAMP assays were specific for each bacterium with detection limits of 5 x 10-6 ng/μL with detection within 20 minutes. We will report on the sensitivity and specificity of these two LAMP assays for detecting AFB and EFB and their applicability for use in the field to allow improved disease management.

Nikki Jones & Karla Williams

REGULATORY UPDATE - FOCUS ON VARROA - STANDALONE AG VIC SESSION

3.30-4.00 pm Friday 7th July

The update on behalf of the Apiary team will cover the current Varroa situation and how Agriculture Victoria is supporting the National Varroa eradication effort through surveillance activities and movement restrictions. An outline will be given of the current permit system and associated conditions for interstate movement of hives and apiary products. They will also speak about the heightened regulatory focus on the mite testing and record keeping elements of the Biosecurity Code of Practice.