Giving Beekeeping Guidance by cOmputatiOnal-assisted Decision making
Next up on #BeekeeperStories on Twitter & Facebook is Tobias Dittmann, a beekeeper from Germany. Tobias is an ex-filmmaker. Ten years ago, he used to be unsatisfied with his movie maker job, when he found his new passion. After helping a professional beekeeper for 3 months, Tobias liked it so much that he took a professional training course and became a beekeeper himself. He now works at Bee Health Service, where he advises beekeepers and veterinarians. What he finds most exciting...
Our fifth feature in the #BeekeeperStories series on Twitter & Facebook is Thorsten Hornemann.Thorsten is a hobby beekeeper from Switzerland, who joined BEEP and the B-GOOD project. He had a lifelong fascination with insects, especially bees. He lived in Germany when he was younger and tried beekeeping there for a while. He made the decision to retry after moving to Switzerland. For him, the best part is, of course, honey. Thorsten loves seeing his bees grow, studying their behaviour, and...
Our campaign #BeekeeperStories, presenting the stories of various B-GOOD beekeepers, continues on Twitter & Facebook! The fourth feature in the series is Malte Hesse. Malte is a beekeeper from Essen, Germany. Four years ago, his company offered a beekeeping course, while working together with the Bee Association in Mannheim. The training took place on the campus of the company, where the beehives were located. The course sparked Malte's interest and he immediately signed up. He's...
B-GOOD’s eventful 7th consortium meeting united beekeepers, project partners and multi-actor forum members and concluded at the end of June 2022. (Read more about the meeting here.) The first day of the meeting was dedicated to the beekeepers in the project and was full of excitement. It took a rather non-conventional structure, including not only informative presentations and in-depth discussions, but also networking sessions, workshops, a quiz and the information market stands. The...
Our campaign #BeekeeperStories, presenting the stories of various B-GOOD beekeepers, continues on Twitter & Facebook! The third feature in the series is Chrys Charpentier. He is a beekeeper from the Netherlands, who shares with us his aspirations and the story behind his passion for bees. Chrys’ grandfather is a beekeeper who inspired him to become one as well when he was just 14 years old. His favourite part about being a beekeeper is that it gives colour to his daily...
The second #BeekeeperStories feature is on Twitter & Facebook! Our guest, Martin Klopfer, shares his story and his long-term goals.Martin is a beekeeper from northern Germany, working with the B-GOOD project. When we asked him what made him interested in beekeeping, he tоld us that it somehow always surrounded him. Martin used to be a part of an EU project where pollination services were a relevant aspect in one of the pilots. Meanwhile, his neighbours are also beekeepers, which...
B-GOOD is all about healthy and sustainable beekeeping. Its main objective is to help beekeepers maintain healthy bee colonies. In order to highlight their invaluable work and role in B-GOOD, we launched a new campaign dedicated to beekeepers.#BeekeeperStories is a campaign presenting the stories of various B-GOOD beekeepers with the goal of highlighting the importance, opportunities, and challenges of beekeeping. The stories will be shared weekly on the project’s website, as well as on...
Project partners and multi-actor forum members of the B-GOOD project met up between 27 and 29 June 2022 in Soesterberg, the Netherlands. The three-day event was hosted by project partner BEEP and entailed informative presentations, in-depth discussions, workshops, as well as an overview of the projects’ developments and expected outcomes. The first day invited 16 beekeepers to share their experiences, while days 2 & 3 were dedicated to internal project meetings. A special hybrid...
In the fifth episode of the progress video series, project coordinator Prof. Dirk de Graaf discusses B-GOOD's socio-economic component. Dirk gives an overview of the SWOT Analysis of the EU beekeeping sector, used to formulate 18 points of attention for policy and strategic developments, and explains the importance of B-GOOD's multi-actor approach. Watch the video here to find out more about how B-GOOD expands the knowledge on beekeeping practice. Don't forget to subscribe...
Over the last few decades, honey bee colonies have shown abnormal mortality rates. Landscape changes due to human pressure and pesticide use in modern agriculture and even forestry are some of the leading causes of colony losses. In a new study ("Exposure and risk assessment of acetamiprid in honey bee colonies under a real exposure scenario in Eucalyptus sp. landscapes") published in the Science of The Total Environment journal, B-GOOD partners from University of Coimbra &...
Photo: Honeybee on a flower. Credit: Canva B-GOOD’s long-term objective is to pave the way towards healthy and sustainable beekeeping within the European Union by providing guidance for beekeepers and helping them make better and more informed decisions. Successful communication, knowledge transfer, and dissemination of project updates and results are among the factors that contribute to this goal. The first set of practice abstracts was prepared and published on the...
On March 26th 2022, B-GOOD held the yearly spring meeting for The Central Association of Bee-Keepers (CABK) Association members. Beekeepers, scientists, and researchers gathered together in Nottingham, UK, to familiarise themselves with the different tools developed by B-GOOD and see them in action. Photo: The participants at the CABK spring meeting during a demonstration of the B-GOOD technologies The workshop started with a tour of the UK B-GOOD mini-apiary, at Holme Pierrepont...
On 20 May 2022, in honour of World Bee Day, the EUobserver published an opinion piece on the conservation efforts EU needs to make to save its bees. The increasing threat pollinators are under could have a huge impact on our food consumption, since bees and other insects are responsible for pollinating one-third of the everyday food we eat. The article called attention to the responsibility European countries have to protect the global populations of threatened wild bee species, high proportion...
In the fourth episode of the progress video series, project coordinator Prof. Dirk de Graaf gives an overview of the methodology of flower resource mapping. Dirk also talks about the development of dynamic landscape models that capture the most important flower resources and the integration of these models into the ApisRAM model. Watch the video here to find out more about how B-GOOD expands the knowledge on beekeeping practice. Don't forget to subscribe to B-GOOD's...
The B-GOOD annual newsletter had its third issue published to accommodate news about our recent progress, where new publications, technology development & special B-GOOD updates were showcased. Don't forget to check out the special B-GOOD mini newsletter, available in several EU languages! Find out more in the newsletter, and don't miss to SUBSCRIBE for our next
In early spring 2022 two training sessions took place within the B-GOOD project to foster the exploitation of the project’s results.As training courses enable knowledge exchange, they are key for ensuring the achievements of B-GOOD objectives. With this in mind, the two events engaged diverse stakeholders involved in the project and ensured a broader exploitation of the project's results. The online training school for B-GOOD stakeholders took place in the evening of Thursday 24th...
B-GOOD wishes you a happy and memorable Easter!
The B-GOOD project was recently featured in the Flemish beekeepers magazine "Maandblad van de Vlaamse Imkersbond" focused solely on the interests of those involved in professional beekeeping. B-GOOD’s story was featured in the magazine’s April 2022 edition (108 volume, no.3). In the report titled "First B-GOOD reviewing period (Part 1)", B-GOOD’s project coordinator Prof. Dirk de Graaf of Ghent University showcases the progress made by B-GOOD...
A data paper recently published in the "Ecology" journal puts forward the first ever database compiling information on phenology and production of pollen, nectar, and sugar in 1612 plant species (755 genera, 133 families). The paper called "Phenology and production of pollen, nectar, and sugar in 1612 plant species from various environments" presents a unique database that provides an opportunity to test hypotheses related to the functioning of food webs, nutrient cycling,...
In an effort to increase the project’s visibility and improve the dissemination of all publicly available project outputs, B-GOOD has recently launched an open research collection in the Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO) journal. The B-GOOD Project Outcomes collection in RIO aims to broaden the outreach of project results by publishing not only standard scientific articles, but also other pieces, covering the entire research cycle in a comprehensive manner. The collection will...