EVENT SPEAKERS:

Blueberry Pollination Round Table Panelist

Meghan is an assistant professor in the Department of Entomology at MSU, where she studies honey bee diseases, focusing on transmission risk and treatment. Dr. Milbrath is also a beekeeper – she began working bees over 25 years ago, and since 2011, has run The Sand Hill Apiary, a small livestock and queen rearing operation in Munith, Michigan. She studied biology at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, and received degrees in public health from Tulane University and the University of Michigan, where she focused on environmental health sciences and disease transmission risk. Meghan worked as a postdoctoral research associate at Michigan State University, studying Nosema, and as a research associate at Swedish Agricultural University, studying honey bee disease resistance.

Two Presentations:
• Charting Your Future: Self-reliant Beekeeping
• The Circle of Life: A Queen Raising Journey

Glory Bee Honey Farm, Langenburg, SK

My name is Dani Glennie. I am a 2nd generation beekeeper but I am a first generation queen raiser.  I started to raise queens at 17 years old and haven’t been able to quite my addictions to homemade queens for over 20 yrs now! I can’t wait to share with you all my story and how it has shaped the way we keep bees!

Four Presentations:
• Understanding How Honey Bees Survive the Winter
• Concepts in Varroa Management: Latest sustainable treatments
• Reading the combs: Understanding bee biology over the course of a season
• The Times They are A’changing!

I started keeping bees as a hobbyist around 1966, and then went on to get university degrees in biological sciences, specializing in entomology.  In 1980 I began to build a migratory beekeeping operation in California, and currently run around 1000-1500 hives with my two sons, from which we make our livings (update: Eric and Ian are in the process of taking over the operation–allowing me more time for research).

In 1993, the varroa mite arrived in California, and after it wiped out my operation for the second time in 1999, I decided to “hit the books” and use my scientific background to learn to fight back.  I started writing for the American Bee Journal in 2006, and have submitted articles nearly every month since.

Blueberry Pollination Round Table Panelist

Peter Awram grew up in a beekeeping family in Alberta, Canada. After completing a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a specialization in molecular biology in plants, he earned a PhD from the University of British Columbia.Currently the family business pollinates blueberries in the Lower Mainland, pollinates canola in southern Alberta and produces honey in central Alberta.To combat fraudulent honey and address food adulteration, Dr. Awram founded Authentic Food Solutions. Utilizing advanced analytical techniques, such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), he is working with Leonard Foster with assistance from the Canadian Honey Council to generate a “fingerprint” database including specific floral markers. This allows for the identification of floral and geographic origins, as well as the detection of honey adulteration.In addition to his expertise in honey analysis, Dr. Awram is looking at ways of introducing new technologies to beekeeping. He has tinkered with hive sensor technologies for non-invasive hive monitoring and automated honey extraction processes, with the intention of improving efficiency and reducing labor costs.

Two Presentations:
• Diagnosing queen problems: is it the queen, the colony, both, or neither?!
• Parasites, pathogens, pests, and problems.

David Tarpy is a Professor of Applied Ecology and the NC Extension Specialist in honey bees. Among other extension initiatives, his program runs the Queen & Disease Clinic and the Beekeeper Education & Engagement System (or BEES). His research interests focus on the biology and behavior of honey bee queens in order to better improve the overall health of queens and their colonies. His lab focuses on the reproductive potential of commercially produced queens, testing their genetic diversity and mating success in an effort to improve queen quality. He has served on the boards of the NC State Beekeepers, the Eastern Apiculture Society, the Bee Informed Partnership, and the editorial boards of the top two scientific journals on apiculture. He is a highly sought-after speaker for clubs around the country and is in high demand to talk about the research coming out of his lab.

Two Presentations:
• Adventures of a Research Chair in Pollinator Health
• The Mysterious Case of European Foulbrood Disease

Dr. Sarah Wood (PhD, DVM) is the new USask Pollinator Health Research Chair at the WCVM. Wood is a USask alumni who earned Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and PhD degrees from the WCVM, and who has worked on research related to pollinator health since 2015. “My long-term vision for this research chair position is to enhance agricultural sustainability and ecosystem health by studying managed and wild bee species from a veterinary perspective. By applying veterinary research tools to address the ongoing challenges to pollinator health and biodiversity, I think we can make impactful change,” said Wood.

Animal pollinators—most of which are insects—are involved in two-thirds of global food production. Through their daily work, pollinators enable plants to successfully grow and produce crops. Among all pollinators, honey bees have the greatest impact on global crop production. “As the first North American veterinary college to establish a honey bee research and teaching program, we are the ideal home for this new research chair. We are so grateful to the support from industry partners who recognize the need for these discoveries at such a critical time when honey bees and other pollinators are facing major health challenges,” said WCVM Dean Dr. Gillian Muir.
“This new research position is an exciting step for our college as our researchers strive to protect the health of both managed and wild pollinators, and in doing so, to improve agricultural sustainability in Canada and throughout the world.”

Blueberry Pollination Round Table :
Wild pollinators in berry agroecosystems and potential in-field and farm margin forage plants.

Associate Professor, Juli Carrillo leads the Plant-Insect Ecology and Evolution lab at the University of British Columbia. Her team applies ecological theory to agricultural issues and works to produce sustainable solutions for growers that support insect-driven ecosystem services. Insects pollinate crops, aid in nutrient cycling, and support natural biological control of pests. Current research projects include the implementation of habitat amendments on farms for supporting insect biodiversity, evaluating the role of wild pollinators, including bumble bees and nocturnal moths, in berry crops, and long-term biodiversity surveys for key insects in BC.

• Stressors Associated with Pollinating Blueberries

Masters Student
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Faculty of Medicine

Two Presentations:
• From Hive to Harvest: Diversification in Modern Beekeeping
• Bees to Business: Finding the Sweet Spot

Emily Huxter owns and operates Wild Antho with her partner Shayne Doerksen. Wild Antho focuses on the production of stock/nucs and breeding queens. Emily took her first sting at about 2 weeks old while nursing and has had a connection with bees since then. The completion of a few degrees and over a decade of working for the Federal Government has driven her back to being a full-time beekeeper. Wild Antho strives to provide Canadian beekeepers with quality local early April queens. Our focus over the next few years is improving our overwintering of queens to provide beekeepers with a local queen option early.

• Bee School: Inspiring the Next Generation

Cassie Gibeau is an owner at Honeybee Centre who is responsible for overseeing Education, Outreach, and Events. She has been educating kids (and adults) on the importance of bees and our environment for the past 7 years. Cassie is one of the growing number of women who recognize that we need to design a succession plan for beekeeping both locally and globally to evolve its role in food security, sustainability, and our climate.

Born and raised in Burnaby, BC, with a teacher as a mother, an outdoor-loving father, and a life-long love of bugs and dirt, Cassie originally pursued an Early Childhood career until she married into a beekeeping family.  Cassie is passionate about leaving a healthy world behind for generations to come.  She wants to educate and share this passion with others and believes that bugs and bees play a role in helping us achieve this goal.  Come meet Cassie and join her in creating a sweeter future.

Blueberry Pollination Round Table Panelist

Eric Gerbrandt’s background includes a Ph.D. in Plant Sciences from the University of Saskatchewan, and his research currently focuses on variety evaluations and development of advanced horticultural management practices for berry crops. He serves as the Research Director with the BC Blueberry Council, Raspberry Industry Development Council, and BC Strawberry Grower’s Association, working on behalf of BC’s blueberry, raspberry, and strawberry growers to develop the industry’s portfolio of applied berry research and breeding.  With the goal of improving the sustainability of berry production for Canadian growers, he facilitates multi-disciplinary collaboration with researchers across government, academic, and private research institutions.

The Hidden Costs of Virus Infection on Queen Success 

Abbi Chapman is beginning the final year of her PhD studies in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UBC, where she also completed her BSc Hon. in Biochemistry in 2015. She is supervised by Dr. Leonard Foster and has been lucky to work in close collaboration with Dr. Alison McAfee on many projects. Abbi’s thesis is focused on identifying the impacts of virus infection on honey bee queen fertility and investigating a potential trade-off between reproduction and immunity. She found this focus after discovering a potential link between virus loads and queen failure in a survey of BC queens she and Ali conducted in 2019 in collaboration with the BCBBA. They hope this work will serve as one of the building blocks for better understanding and ultimately improving queen health.

Dr. Leonard Foster is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Dr. Foster comes from a family of beekeepers and got his introduction to academic bee research at Simon Fraser University while doing his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry – at SFU he worked with Drs. Winston and Slessor on honey bee pheromones, particularly the components of queen mandibular pheromone. He then did a Ph.D. in Toronto and post-doctoral studies in Denmark before starting his current position in 2005. The first independent operating grant that Dr. Foster secured was to study how bee pathogens were able to manipulate the protein machinery within bee cells. Since that time, he has led three very large-scale projects that have investigated some of the molecular mechanisms behind disease resistance in bees. This effort has recently moved into trying to apply this knowledge by using the information they have learned to guide selective breeding for hygienic behavior in honey bees. He is very active in extension and frequently engages the public on various aspects of honey bee biology. He currently lives in Richmond and keeps bees himself.

• Problem Solving 101: Responsible Beekeeping in the City

Julia Common is a BCHPA certified beekeeping instructor and member of the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists. Julia has been involved in beekeeping since her university days. What started as a summer job became first a hobby, and later a career. From 2012 through to 2019 she acted as Chief Beekeeper for the Vancouver-based society Hives for Humanity, which she co-founded with her daughter Sarah Common.
​Urban beekeeping has led her to a number of epiphanies concerning the health and welfare of both bees and humans. Pollination work has led her to focus on how to better the conditions under which we expect our bees to live and work. Julia is passionate about bees and teaching and she has participated in a number of research projects over the past decade. Since her retirement from Hives for Humanity in 2019, Julia has built the company, Bees Actually, to include nuc and honey sales, greenhouse and field pollination, consulting, presenting and teaching.

​Julia is a member of the Richmond and Langley bee clubs in the Fraser Valley, and of the BCHPA. She is also a member of the Native Bee Society of British Columbia, and recently become a member of the Western Apicultural Society. Julia fosters collaborative thinking across many divides as we face the ongoing and future challenges for our bees and this wonderful art and practice of beekeeping.