Honey Bee Health Coalition releases Spanish-language editions of two popular varroa management guides

This Article is offered in: English, Espanol

Spanish-language editions of the Tools for Varroa Management Guide and the Guide to Varroa Mite Controls for Commercial Beekeeping Operations are now available.

Honey Bee Health Coalition logo

The Honey Bee Health Coalition released Spanish-language editions of the Tools for Varroa Management Guide and the Guide to Varroa Mite Controls for Commercial Beekeeping Operations. The guides have helped beekeepers deploy effective varroa control that reduce colony losses and avoid potential spread of infectious disease among honey bee colonies.

The Honey Bee Health Coalition released the eighth edition of the Tools for Varroa Management Guide last year. The guide provides information on the latest testing and treatment options for beekeepers in the United States and Canada to keep bees healthy and manage varroa mites. An expert team of beekeepers, entomologists, Extension agents, apiary inspectors and federal regulators spent more than six months editing the document to bring it up to date with changes in best practices and treatment options. The guide details new information on varroa control products including products that have been approved for use since the seventh edition was released in 2018.

The Guide to Varroa Mite Controls for Commercial Beekeeping Operations lays out a vision that addresses the risks of resistance created by off-label chemical treatments of varroa. Widespread mite resistance to amitraz poses a serious threat to the long-term business of every commercial beekeeping business and threatens food security. Continuous use of off-label amitraz, with increasing dosages and frequency of use as it becomes less effective, is very likely to cause amitraz to lose its effectiveness more quickly; a trend beekeepers are already seeing. The guide aims to help commercial beekeepers evaluate a variety of varroa control methods that can be integrated into a management plan to protect their bees and their business. It includes six case studies of commercial beekeepers who stick to the label are run successful operations.

The full Spanish version of the Tools for Varroa Management Guide is offered free of charge at the Honey Bee Health Coalition’s website.

The full Spanish version of the Guide to Varroa Mite Controls for Commercial Beekeeping Operations is also offered free of charge at the Honey Bee Health Coalition’s website.

About the Honey Bee Health Coalition

The Honey Bee Health Coalition brings together beekeepers, growers, researchers, government agencies, agribusinesses, conservation groups, manufacturers, brands and other key partners to improve the health of honey bees and other pollinators. Its mission is to collaboratively implement solutions that help achieve a healthy population of honey bees while also supporting populations of native and managed pollinators in the context of productive agricultural systems and thriving ecosystems. The Coalition focuses on accelerating the collective impact of efforts in four key areas: forage and nutrition; hive management; crop pest management; and communications, outreach and education.

The Honey Bee Health Coalition is a project of the Keystone Policy Center, a nationally recognized nonprofit that brings together diverse stakeholders to find collaborative, actionable solutions to public policy challenges.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the Honey Bee Health Coalition for contributing language for this article.

Michigan State University Extension and Honey Bee Health Coalition provided funds to translate the guides into Spanish.

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