Have wings, will journey
WSU bee program, honey manufacturing transferring to Othello
- By Kathy Hedberg For Farm & Ranch
Laura Lavine, chairwoman of the Washington State College entomology division, stands inside a greenhouse in Othello, the location the place the WSU honey bee analysis program will likely be transferring. The Othello website has the additional advantage of being within the wealthy agricultural space of the Columbia River Basin.
Brandon Hopkins, an entomology professor at Washington State College.
The most recent buzz across the Washington State College campus comes from the relocation of honey bees and honey extraction gear from Pullman to Othello.
Brandon Hopkins, a professor of entomology at WSU, mentioned the consolidation of honey bees and gear at Othello will help the varsity’s ongoing analysis into honey bees and honey manufacturing in central Washington.
“We’ve grown past our area in Pullman, so we had a fundraising marketing campaign for just a few years to get a brand new facility,” Hopkins mentioned. When the value tag for a brand new Pullman analysis heart got here in at $26 million and continued to rise “it turned clear we weren’t going to get sufficient cash to construct a constructing in Pullman. (The worth) turned more and more far-fetched.”
When a facility turned obtainable in Othello and WSU obtained a big donation from a business beekeeping household in Washington and others, the choice was made to relocate.
Hopkins mentioned the Othello website has the additional advantage of being within the wealthy agricultural space of the Columbia River Basin. Every year, 15 to 30 undergraduates enroll in programs designed to additional the research of honey bees, their atmosphere and their candy outcomes.
The WSU honey bee program is within the means of transferring gear and supplies from Pullman to Othello, together with the big honey extractor that’s used to separate honey from honeycombs. Hopkins estimates the ability will likely be in place and working by the spring.
A big a part of the WSU honey bee program entails analysis into colony collapse dysfunction that impacts honey bee colonies by means of sudden colony demise. The precise explanation for colony collapse dysfunction isn’t identified, though researchers suspect there are a number of causes for it.
WSU has about 200 hives and annually transports about half of these to California, together with different honey bee producers, to assist pollinate the almond orchards. Hopkins mentioned among the college’s analysis additionally takes place there.
In early spring, the hives are returned to the campus and honey is extracted about twice a 12 months. It’s offered on-line and at Ferdinand’s on WSU’s Pullman campus. Cash raised from gross sales goes again into the bee program and permits college students to work as they study bees. The cash additionally funds the infrastructure that enables analysis to occur.
Though honey bee manufacturing in the US has been round for tons of of years, Hopkins mentioned he has heard there are fewer people who find themselves stepping into the enterprise.
“It’s a really tough enterprise,” he mentioned. “A variety of beekeepers, if they’ve a foul 12 months and lose their colonies, they need to make laborious selections about investing tens of millions of {dollars} in loans to construct again up.”
As with different elements of farming, smaller beekeepers are likely to consolidate or promote out to bigger firms.
“The folks that handle to maintain their bees alive, it’s worthwhile,” Hopkins mentioned. “People who do it nicely make an excellent residing.”
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