November 21, 2023 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has selected a project led by members of the Varroacide Resistance and Testing Team (VRTT), facilitated by the Honey Bee Health Coalition, to receive funding as part of a new initiative aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of U.S. specialty crops. The project led by the VRTT members is one of 21 projects that will receive funding under the new federal initiative.
“We all count on America’s specialty crops for reliable access to nutritious, fresh foods,” said USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small in the Nov. 9 announcement. “Specialty crop producers are hard at work to keep operations profitable while implementing sustainable practices, and President Biden is proud to invest in innovation within the industry to remain competitive domestically and in markets across the world.”
The goal of the Varroacide Resistance and Testing Team is to expeditiously provide North American beekeepers safe and effective, resistance-breaking varroacides, and in doing so, fill important gaps in varroa mite mitigation research. Several researches from the VRTT are leading the project receiving the USDA grant. The project aims to develop and deploy novel tools to support varroa mite integrated pest management for enhancing honey bee health for pollinating specialty crops. Some beekeepers have been successful at using a range of genetic, cultural and chemical varroa control tactics in an integrated pest management approach; however, widespread adoption of these practices across commercial beekeeping has been limited by barriers to communication driven by a lack of objective data on the efficacy and timing of varroa control methods and an accounting of the economic costs. Even among beekeepers that are successfully managing varroa today, new approaches for varroa control are badly needed to handle future varroa outbreaks.
Members of this team will work with beekeepers to reduce honey bee colony losses and maximize the strength of colonies available for crop pollination by (1) re-evaluating the efficacy and economics of using various combinations of currently available varroa management tools; (2) developing new chemical controls that overcome resistance; and (3) integrating and implementing all approaches into comprehensive varroa management plans.
