UC Davis apiculturist Eric Mussen, a liaison to the board, chairs a committee that’s reviewing the Apiary Protection Act. Mussen drafted changes, sought input from agricultural commissioners, beekeepers and others, and will present the document to the board for its approval at the next meeting, set for Nov. 4 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis. The five-member board is chaired by Jackie Park-Burris of Palo Cedro, president of the California State Beekeepers’ Association.

The board also includes vice chair Steve Godlin of Visalia; Leroy Brant of Oakdale; Lyle Johnson of Madera; and Richard Ashurst of Westmorland. All were appointed by California Secretary of Agriculture A. G. Kawamura. The board identified a list of priorities at its organizational meeting on Oct. 3 in the Laidlaw facility. The list targets the parasitic Varroa mite and Nosema; improper pesticide practices or labeling issues; and honey bee malnutrition. Topics also include honey bee testing in the pesticide registration process; right-to-farm issues; diagnostic laboratories for testing nutrition and pathogens, and a proposed honey bee “safe haven” or “bee farm,” advocated by Kawamura.

The board is also studying the impact of pesticides and pathogens on queen breeders; and the seedless mandarin-honey bee conflict in the citrus belt of the San Joaquin Valley.

Mussen, editor of the from the UC Apiaries newsletter, wrote in the current edition, (available online) that mandarin growers and beekeepers are clashing over honey bee pollination of two mandarins, Clementines and Murcotts, planted next to one another in the San Joaquin Valley. When honey bees transfer pollen between the varieties, the result can be an unwanted “seedy” mandarin.

“Not waiting for any official word, creative citrus growers are trying some solutions for the problem,” Mussen wrote. “First they have placed bee-proof netting over much of the Murcotts (least number of acres) to prevent cross pollination. Second, they have begun using x-ray examination to spot and cull mandarins with very many seeds. And finally, they have removed the word ‘seedless’ from their packaging and advertising.”

“California has some very touchy rules about calling something seedless, so it is easier to avoid that hassle,” Mussen wrote.

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