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Honey Fund report: nine research grants and classroom outreach highlighted
Summary
The Department of Agriculture reported on the Honey Fund: nine research projects were funded this biennium addressing bee health, viral titers and mite control, and the fund supported classroom outreach and the Honey Queen program.
Samantha Bruner, plant industries division director at the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, presented the Honey Fund report to the joint committees, describing research and outreach funded by the colony assessment.
Bruner said the Honey Fund — financed by a 10¢ per colony assessment — is dedicated to research, education and market development for the state’s beekeeping industry and is administered by the agriculture commissioner in consultation with the North Dakota Beekeepers Association. She listed nine research grants awarded during the biennium, including projects on honeybee viral transmission and Nosema treatments (originally with the Bee Informed Partnership and later migrated to Honeybee Vitality after the former closed), viral titer tracking at the National Agricultural Genotyping Center, and mite treatment efficacy studies.
Bruner also described promotion and education efforts such as participation in the Living Egg in the Classroom program for fourth graders and the Honey Queen program; she said roughly 350 beekeepers are registered in the state and that about half are hobbyists. No committee action was taken; the report was informational.
The presentation noted the Honey Fund may award grants and that assessments are refundable upon request.
