The American Beekeeping Federation met in New Orleans January 9-13, 2024
By Lisa Marie Ghezzi, Second VP for Talbot County
For more than 80 years, ABF, the American Beekeeping Federation, has been working in the interest of all beekeepers, large and small, and those associated with the beekeeping industry to ensure the future of the honey bee.
Their annual meeting has been a must for beekeepers at all levels for decades, and this year's meeting. in Louisiana was extremely valuable!
Small-Scale, Sideliner and Commercial beekeepers were all well represented with over 700 attending. Keynote speakers were Dr. Frank D. Rinkevich and Dr. Sammy Ramsey. Dr. Rinkevich, a research Entomologist at the USDA-ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Laboratory in Baton Rouge, LA, spoke about the lessons learned from five years of research on Amitraz resistance in Varroa destructor.
Dr. Ramsey provided an update on his research of the Tropilaelaps, in his Keynote address “A Fate Worse than Varroa”, and with emphasis on understanding the rapid reproductive capacity of the Varroa destructor that catapults its success, and the term “Kleptocytosis”.
Many other talks provided valuable guidance on industry news, best practices and various stages of rearch, including presentations by approximately 70 graduate students and PhD candidates showcasing their findings at the American Bee Research Conference (ABRC) poster sessions. Two groups toured the USDA-ARS Lab Saturday morning.
In addition to an ice cream social appreciated by all Wednesday evening, many attendees attended a relaxing social event at the House of Blues Thursday evening listening to jazz by the Jake Landry Jazz Band. They enjoyed an array of Cajun and Creole food well known in the city.
ABF deployed a new app this year to assist conference goers in locating speakers and topics of interest, as well as making more efficient use of attendees’ time to locate the next talk, assemble spur of the moment get-togethers, share photos and preview speaker presentations. The app also facilitated more communication exchange than ever before; a helpful assist to get more out of action and topic-packed week.
The tradeshow was well attended by vendors, including new the display and discussion of new inventions.
ABF members elected a new President, Vice President and some new board members. Patty Sundberg of Montana and Debbie Seib from Indiana, respectively, bring robust leadership and fresh perspectives to ABF; Sundberg, Seib and the new board demonstrate a deep commitment in support of all members and the organization’s mission.
Next year’s conference will be held in Reno, Nevada January 7-11, 2025. More to follow!
[Return to February 2024 BeeLine newsletter]