Looking for Innovative Beekeepers, Scientists and Researchers

[alexanderkjones]

Hi everyone, I'm currently doing research on innovative and inspiring people in the beekeeping community for an interview series I would like to produce. This includes scientists, researchers, backyard naturalists, the whole gamut.

​If you had the chance to sit down with anyone working with bees who would it be and what are the top 5 questions you would ask them?

[Finski]

.
1) How many hives and how many years experience
2) How big is average yield per hive (skills)
3) what are key factors in getting good yield (self analyse)
4) What are key factors in honey marketing  ( honey production)
5) what issues is he going to develope in nearest future ( interest to continue)


Skills are behind everything.

[millipede]

1. How do you see the bee population changing in the next 5-10 years
2. If you could change one thing on how honey bees are farmed, what would it be?
3. What do you believe is the greatest threat at present to honey bees and native bees?
4. What can be done to change or mitigate the threat?
5. What are some ways you would improve on present day hives to help the bees and increase honey production?

[10framer]

annual survival rate?
what is the biggest pest/problem battled?
what methods are working to control those problems?
what methods haven't worked?
what new problems do they see in the future for beekeepers?

i think beekeeping in the united states is a train wreck in progress.  i'd be looking to interview any commercial beekeeper that isn't losing at least 25 percent of his or her hives each year and trying to learn what they are doing different.

[BlueBee]

Innovative  :laugh:

We are talking bee keepers right  :laugh: 

[Finski]

.
If a researcher is going to  be innovative and have beekeeping skills and money for flying tickets, he would collect from different countries wintering knowledge.

USA and Canada have very bad wintering knowledge. Yes, I know. Alaska Fairbanks University recommends to kill hives in autumn because they do not know how to keep hives alive.

UK, I know that their knowledge is amazingly miserable. To them +10C is severe weather. Insulation and  dew point are unknown.

Russia over winter their bees with poor resources. Finland have quite new hives. Old "choosy" beehives have burned away. Mostly we use polystyrene.

Very essential question is bee strains which are able to over winter on "local"  climatic conditions.
Of course our professionals have queens from France, China, Egypt, Russia and from what ever. But basics is in local queen genepool production.


It would be a huge work to collect wintering knowledge inside one book in different countries.
The guy must be very open minded and skillfull that he can see the things and reason why they do so.
-

[hiram.ga.bee.man]

Someone whom you might consider interviewing for your project is Keith Delaplane, an entomologist with the University of Georgia. Guy is fascinating to listen to and the studies they are always doing are just a intriguing.

[Michael Bush]

Here are a few of my "Who" (I'm sure I can think of more with some time):

Dee Lusby
Kirk Webster
Dean Stiglitz
Laurie Herboldsheimer
Walt Wright
Michael Palmer
Les Crowder
Kent Williams

[Santa Caras]

Uhhhhh Mike....you left one name off there.
YOURS!!!  :-D

[Michael Bush]

>Mike....you left one name off there.

I get a chance to "sit and talk to" myself everyday...