Subcommittee Reports
I.
Apiculture
Keith
S. Delaplane
The number of managed
bee hives in Georgia increased from 70,000 in 1995 to 75,000 in 19961.
This welcome upswing follows a general increase in honey prices due to decreasing world
honey stocks. Overall honey production in Georgia, including the 1996 crop year, has
stayed uniform over ten years2. Thus, production efficiency is
good. Parasitic tracheal mites and Varroa mites continue to kill colonies and cost
beekeepers large sums for control. There remains only one registered miticide for
varroa mite control, ApistanTM. There is concern for chemical resistance
in mites but so far there are no data from North America to suggest this is a problem.
Conditions were good
for honey production in 1996. Beekeepers with five or more hives harvested 5,100,000
pounds of honey, up from 4,340,000 in 1995. Production per hive (68 pounds) was up
slightly from 1995 (62 pounds). Value of the 1996 crop was $4,539,000 compared
to $3,081,000 in 1995. In 1996, average price per pound rose to $0.89, up from $0.71
in 19951. The estimated annual value of honey bee products and crop
pollination to Georgia’s agriculture economy is $70,870,4003.
Extension programs
reached 1,876 people in educational efforts aimed at honey bee parasite biology and
control, optimum bee management, and public awareness of the value of bee
pollinators. The fifth annual Young Harris College/University of Georgia Beekeeping
Institute drew 99 participants. Research focused on identifying economic
treatment thresholds for Varroa mites and the pollinators and their flower-visiting
behavior in rabbiteye blueberry.
1Georgia
Agric. Statistics Service, Mar. 4, 1997
2Hoff, F.L. 1995. Honey. U.S.D.A. Agric. Econ. Rep. 708
3Georgia Bee letter, vol. 7(1), 1997, Univ. of Georgia Coop. Ext. Service |
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