The Buzz Newsletter

May 2007

 

 

Page 6

The Iowa State Fair Food Department

Gordon Powell received some good feedback regarding the IHPA’s sponsorship involvement in the Food Department. He received this letter shortly after the Iowa State Fair last year in September. The Iowa Honey Producers Association board have already agreed to sponsor the entry in both the Iowa State Fair and the Clay County Fair "Foods made with Honey" again in 2007.

Iowa Honey Producers Association.

Thank you for your support of the 2006 Iowa State Fair Food Department. It was a good fair and we had a lot of compliments. We had over 12,800 food entries and 841 entrants. Over $58,000 in total prize money and products were awarded. You helped to make this possible because of your interest and support.

We had a display with each of your sponsored divisions listing the monetary and product prizes offered. People were very interested in your support.

I will be sending you a letter in November asking you to return as a sponsor for the 2007 Iowa State Fair.

Again, thank you so very much.

Sincerely,

Arlette Hollister
Iowa State Fair
Food Superintendent

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To: The Iowa Honey Producers Association,

I want to thank you for being sponsors at our Great Iowa State Fair. You people are what makes our Food Department Great. I received Reserve Sweepstakes. So I had a lot of honey to carry back in which I'll use it all getting ready for next year. I am wondering how else you could handle the honey prizes. I am nearing 80 and that is a long old haul up to the agriculture building.

Thanks,
Majorie Rodgers

 

The Cell Phone Story

I have had people, who don't even know me, calling to ask if cell phones are really the cause of bee losses. This is a real stretch to my mind. I read a couple of articles from the European papers but they seem pretty vague. They talk about cell phones killing brain cells and causing tumors. The connection to bees is pretty vague. One article was only concerned with the radiation emitted by cell phones. Using this logic, one would have to put a cell phone on every pallett to cause a problem. This could actually happen. Jerry Bromenshank is working on a system to monitor weather and weight gains in the beeyards using cell phone technology.

One of our yards is next to a cell phone tower. I haven't seen any ill effects. There are always some colonies that die, for what appears to be, no good reason but most of the problems we see in our operation are attributable to Varroa mites. The mite population has the capability to increase exponentially at the end of the season. The bees can disappear within two or three weeks if this happens.

Submitted by Phil Ebert

IHPA Video

The video funded by the IHPA on identifying foulbrood and monitoring Varroa mites is nearly completed. The finished product is going to be much better than the preliminary edition that I showed at the annual meeting. There is follow-up footage of what happens to the foul colonies after they are shaken onto foundation. We are also going to add a section on how to do an alcohol wash. Running time will be 35 to 40 minutes.

9th International Pollination Symposium on Plant-Pollinator Relationships - Diversity in Action June 24 - 28, 2007 Ames, Iowa, USA A section on Colony Collapse Disorder is being added to the International Pollinator Symposium being held in Ames in June. Colony Collapse Disorder Symposium Date: Wednesday (June 27) Time: 8:00 to 11:00 Place: ISU; Scheman building Special section on CCD Speakers – Robert Danka, Jeff Pettis, Diana Cox-Foster and Marla Spivak. There is a one day cost of $175.00 which includes daily meals, daily refreshments and conference materials. Additional details are available on the web at: http://www.ucs.iastate.edu/mnet/plantbee/home.html