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Varroa-tolerant bees are bred in Weng

Bee symposium in Weng

Report: August 2020

Reihen von Bienenstöcken vor dem Hargassner Firmengelände

Bienensymposium in der Hargassner Energy World Weng

Hargassner actively declares war on bee mortality!

Beekeepers from Upper Austria and Salzburg came together and founded the Upper Austria-South Tyrol Beekeeping Group at the end of 2019. Together with the Weng Beekeepers’ Association, they are pursuing a major goal: to breed a resistant, healthy bee that can survive with the Varroa mite without our help. The most modern methods, such as artificial insemination of the queen bee, are essential. The inheritance parameters are then passed on to the next generation. There is also a lively exchange of experience and material throughout Europe.

The vision behind it: Beekeeping without the use of chemicals and without having to ‘mistreat’ the bees with acids or other treatment methods to ensure their survival. Resistance paired with long-lasting bee performance! Until now, this has taken a lot of time and money. Thanks to the work of the beekeeping group, this should no longer be necessary in 5 – 10 years and beekeeping will return to the way it was in our great-grandfather’s day.

First bee symposium in Weng 2020

Guillaume Misslin – project manager of the Arista Bee Research Foundation, which is active throughout Europe – led the first project organised by the beekeeping group Upper Austria – South Tyrol. organised the Bee Symposium on 11 + 12 August at the Hargassner company in Weng im Innkreis. Up to 40 enumerators (Upper Austria-Sbg beekeeping group and Weng beekeepers’ association) took care of the count of almost 60 bee colonies whose queen was already varroa-tolerant. The result showed that after the first test run, 4-5 colonies were already resistant according to extrapolations. Mr Misslin assumes that if this type of reproduction of resistant bees is continued, stable bee populations can be achieved in around 5 years.

The advantage of this type of breeding is the avoidance of pesticides in the honey as well as the targeted utilisation of late-flowering plants. Resistant and untreated bees perform better, especially later in the year, and therefore produce more honey for longer.

This year’s contribution margin for domestic honey is 8-10% due to the weather! Remaining quantities to cover the annual demand in Austria must be covered from the stocks of previous years or imported. The Weng Beekeepers’ Association was able to achieve an extension of the agricultural flowering area of approx. 20 ha through positive and creative cooperation with regional farmers.