(May 6th 2014) Overall it was a meager harvest, darker honeys in areas where they were traditionally white. The humidity played a major role in many batches appearing what we have called "acquired water", a phenomenon widely discussed in a review published into Espacio Apícola magazine No. 108, "Humidity and Honey".

May 9 to 11th a new Meeting in Maipú - Buenos Aires Province.-
May 16 to 17th traditional meeting in Malabrigo - Santa Fe Province.-
June 6 to 8th Older meeting in Azul - Buenos Aires Province.-
September 19 to 21st traditional meeting in Lavalle - Mendoza Province.

Despite the strong international price of honey, as detailed into Espacio Apicola magazine Nº 108, a lack of liquidity in Argentina is pushing down the price of honey. In many cases the payments are deferred for lack of liquidity, pending devaluation and/or liquidation of exports. The cost of credit in Argentina is very high, exceeding in all cases over a 60% for total interest rate annually.-

(December 26th 2013) We present an advance of the beekeeping season in Argentina. Initial difficulties in the north, a great November as we had not for years and many difficulties since December 20 with very high temperatures without cooling overnight, and low humidity. View report in Spanish only MIEL: TEMPORADA APICOLA ARGENTINA

(August 15th 2013) The biggest event of beekeeping history will take place from September 29th to October 4th in Kiev, Ukraine.
Final program in click here
Espacio Apícola will be present in this congress collecting information relevant to Argentine beekeeping. We will establish a meeting point in the exhibition hall to meet with those interested in getting in touch with us and with Argentine Beekeeping.
We thank our suscribers and our sponsors for their support to attend the congress, especially the following companies: Parodi Apicultura, CIPSA Honey, Indumentaria APIDAN (clothing), AMCAR (queen bee breeders), Distribuidora Vairolatti (supplier), Alamgramp srl, Gruas San Blas, Apícola Danangie and Grupo Devoto.
Hope to see you in Kiev from September 29th to October 4th. Lint to an Argentine Beekeeping Catalogue

(January 16th, Original Source: OntarioFarmer.com) The focus of ongoing research into what is killing off North American honeybee populations has shifted back to insecticide seed treatments.
A new two-year study by researchers at Purdue University has found high concentrations of neonicotinoid insecticides, commonly used as seed treatments in corn and soybean production, in the bodies of bees found dead around their hives. The researchers say in a university press release that those insecticides were present at high concentrations in waste talc that is exhausted from farm machinery during planting.
The insecticides clothianidin and thiamethoxam were also consistently found at low levels in soil - up to two years after treated seed was planted - on nearby dandelion flowers and in corn pollen gathered by the bees, according to the findings published in the journal PLoS One.
Researchers Christian Krupke and Greg Hunt began their study after receiving reports of bee deaths at planting time near agricultural fields in 2010 and 2011. Analyses found that neonicotinoids were present in each sample of affected bees. They suggest that excess talc used in air seeders to keep seed flowing is released during planting and planter maintenance and is then blown into the environment. It showed extremely high levels of the insecticides - up to about 700,000 times the lethal contact dose for a bee.
The researchers also found that corn pollen carried by bees later in the year tested positive for neonicotinoids at levels that are not acutely toxic but enough to kill bees if enough is consumed.
The researchers also say they will continue the study to look at the sublethal effects of neonicotinoids, suggesting that bees that do not die from the insecticide could suffer other effects, such as loss of homing ability or less resistance to disease or mites.

(Austria, December 13th of 2012, from Harald Singer to Espácio Apícola) Movement of Soil-Applied Imidacloprid and Thiamethoxam into Nectar and Pollen of Squash (Cucurbita pepo)
Kimberly A. Stoner (Department of Entomology), Brian D. Eitzer (Department of Analytical Chemistry), The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America.
There has been recent interest in the threat to bees posed by the use of systemic insecticides. One concern is that systemic insecticides may translocate from the soil into pollen and nectar of plants, where they would be ingested by pollinators. This paper reports on the movement of two such systemic neonicotinoid insecticides, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, into the pollen and nectar of flowers of squash (Cucurbita pepo cultivars “Multipik,” “Sunray” and “Bush Delicata”) when applied to soil by two methods: (1) sprayed into soil before seeding, or (2) applied through drip irrigation in a single treatment after transplant. All insecticide treatments were within labeled rates for these compounds. Pollen and nectar samples were analyzed using a standard extraction method widely used for pesticides (QuEChERS) and liquid chromatography mass spectrometric analysis. The concentrations found in nectar, 10±3 ppb (mean ± s.d) for imidacloprid and 11±6 ppb for thiamethoxam, are higher than concentrations of neonicotinoid insecticides in nectar of canola and sunflower grown from treated seed, and similar to those found in a recent study of neonicotinoids applied to pumpkins at transplant and through drip irrigation. The concentrations in pollen, 14±8 ppb for imidacloprid and 12±9 ppb for thiamethoxam, are higher than those found for seed treatments in most studies, but at the low end of the range found in the pumpkin study. Our concentrations fall into the range being investigated for sublethal effects on honey bees and bumble bees.
Citation: Stoner KA, Eitzer BD (2012) Movement of Soil-Applied Imidacloprid and Thiamethoxam into Nectar and Pollen of Squash (Cucurbita pepo). PLoS ONE 7(6): e39114. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0039114
Editor: Subba Reddy Palli, U. Kentucky, United States of America
Funding: This study was supported by a grant from Project Apis m. (URL: www.ProjectApism.org). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

(BBC, London, December 11th 2012)By Mark Kinver Environment reporter, BBC News.
Researchers say they have unlocked the genetic secrets of honey bees' high sensitivity to environmental change.
Scientists from the UK and Australia think their findings could help show links between nutrition, environment and the insects' development.
It could, they suggest, offer an insight into problems like Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious cause of mass bee deaths globally.
The findings appear in Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Extensive histone post-translational modification in honey bees ABSTRACT
Histone post-translational modifications (PTMs) play a key role in regulating a variety of cellular processes including the establishment, maintenance and reversal of transcriptional programmes in eukaryotes. However, little is known about such modifications in the economically and ecologically important insect pollinator, the honey bee (Apis mellifera). Using mass spectrometry approaches, we show that histone H3.1, H3.3 and H4 of the honey bee are extensively modified by lysine acetylation and lysine methylation. We analysed histones isolated from queen ovaries and 96-h-old larvae, in toto we quantified 23 specific modification states on 23 distinct peptides. In addition, we have identified and characterised patterns of histone PTMs that reside on the same peptide, generating detailed combinatorial information. Overall, we observed similar profiles of histone PTMs in both samples, with combinatorial patterns of lysine methylations on H3K27 and H3K36 more frequently identified in histones extracted from queen ovaries than from larvae. To our knowledge, this comprehensive dataset represents the first identification and quantitation of histone PTMs in this eusocial insect and emerging epigenetic model.

(Córdoba, September 20th 2012)ROUNDUP NOT ONLY DESTROY BIODIVERSITY TO BEES, IT IS ALSO CANCEROGENIC.
(Caen, France September 19th 2012) In press: Food and Chemical Toxicology - ELSEVIER
Title: Long term toxicity of a Roundup herbicide and a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize
Gilles-Eric Séralini (a), Emilie Clair (a), Robin Mesnage (a), Steeve Gress (a), Nicolas Defarge (a), Manuela Malatesta (b), Didier Hennequin (c), Joël Spiroux de Vendômois (a)
(a) University of Caen, Institute of Biology, CRIIGEN and Risk Pole, MRSH-CNRS, EA 2608, Esplanade de la Paix, Caen Cedex 14032, France
(b) University of Verona, Department of Neurological, Neuropsychological, Morphological and Motor Sciences, Verona 37134, Italy
(c) University of Caen, UR ABTE, EA 4651, Bd Maréchal Juin, Caen Cedex 14032, France

Article history:
Received 11 April 2012
Accepted 2 August 2012
Published online: September 19th 2012

ABSTRACT "The health effects of a Roundup-tolerant genetically modified maize (from 11% in the diet), cultivated with or without Roundup, and Roundup alone (from 0.1 ppb in water), were studied 2 years in rats. In females, all treated groups died 2–3 times more than controls, and more rapidly. This difference was visible in 3 male groups fed GMOs. All results were hormone and sex dependent, and the pathological profiles were comparable. Females developed large mammary tumors almost always more often than and before controls, the pituitary was the second most disabled organ; the sex hormonal balance was modified by GMO and Roundup treatments. In treated males, liver congestions and necrosis were 2.5–5.5 times higher. This pathology was confirmed by optic and transmission electron microscopy. Marked and severe kidney nephropathies were also generally 1.3–2.3 greater. Males presented 4 times more large palpable tumors than controls which occurred up to 600 days earlier. Biochemistry data confirmed very significant kidney chronic deficiencies; for all treatments and both sexes, 76% of the altered parameters were kidney related. These results can be explained by the non linear endocrine-disrupting effects of Roundup, but also by the overexpression of the transgene in the GMO and its metabolic consequences." Source: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691512005637
Check the impact of the article on media linked to food industry:
http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Safe-levels-of-Monsanto-fertilizer-and-GM-crop-linked-to-cancer/?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BDaily&c=N7nhRGfuXxy2z991bwplKxU%2BCsJxk5Cu

(Brussels, September 5th 2012) The European Green Party and the European GMO-free Regions Network is meeting with politicians, scientists, EU institutions and businesses in Brussels today to discuss the future of GMO-free food and agriculture in Europe.
Annex Ituzaingó Neighborhood Mothers (Córdoba, Argentina) were invited because they are a symbol of struggle and perseverance who reach a criminal trial that sentenced a farmer and a crop duster aircraft because they sprayed with chemicals banned by law in an area protected by a declaration of a health emergency.
The GMO-free Europe Conference 2012 has been co-organised by the Greens and the GMO-Free Regions Network, and is the first such meeting in two years.
Currently, two GMOs (genetically modified organisms) are approved for cultivation in Europe – Monsanto’s MON810 corn (already banned in several European countries), and BASF’s Amflora potato (they are stoping production in Europe and they are moving to America from January, according The NY Times). Several other GMO crops are not approved for cultivation but can be imported into Europe, and unintentional presence of GMOs is tolerated at a level of up to 0.9% in other crops.
Speaking with FoodNavigator, GMO campaigner for the Greens in the European Parliament Arnaud Apoteker said that GMO legislation in Europe is at a critical stage. Yesterday, key campaign groups met “to strategize and figure out how to go along in our fight to keep a GMO-free Europe,” he said, ahead of today’s more formal meeting.
Questioning authority
“The main political issues are directly related to upcoming issues at the Commission level,” said Apoteker, including other GMO crops pending EU approval, and the issue of whether individual member states should be allowed to impose national bans for individual crop cultivation without invoking action from the World Trade Organization.
“Up to now, if you want to ban the growing of GMOs, it means you question the authority of the EC,” he said. But in his view, there is no need for revision of the current law on national bans.
“Our opinion is that we don’t really need a new text because if we read the original text, depending on how you interpret it, it allows for member state bans….We don’t want to lose something for a dream that may not materialise.”
Also on the conference agenda is the issue of new GMOs being proposed for commercialization and how the risk assessment is performed by EFSA (the European Food Safety Authority).
Voluntary GMO-free labelling
In addition to the legislative issues, the conference organisers are also working on a voluntary label certifying that a product is GMO-free, Apoteker said. Such a designation already exists in Germany, Austria and France, which have programmes to label meat, milk and eggs as GMO-free, considering that animals fed GM crops are not required to be labelled as GM under EU legislation, and the European Union imports about 30m tonnes of GM crops as animal feed each year.
Carrefour’s Engagement Qualité, for example, now has about 300 products labelled GMO-free, and Apoteker claims that many producers of GMO-free products have seen a significant increase in sales since they started labelling.
“The question now is whether we need EU-wide regulation or whether it would be more efficient to push companies to begin to label in a practical but significant way.”
Apoteker said that following the conference, he would like all stakeholders to have a clear picture of future possible outcomes.
“What I would like is that everyone goes back saying ‘how can we work together to make sure that the EU is GMO-free’ – not just my region, my city, or my fridge.”
Source: Conference urges drive toward GMO-free Europe
The European Green Party and the European GMO-free Regions Network is meeting with politicians, scientists, EU institutions and businesses in Brussels today to discuss the future of GMO-free food and agriculture in Europe.
http://www.foodnavigator.com/Legislation/Conference-urges-drive-toward-GMO-free-Europe

(Cordoba, June 4th 2012) Regarding our proposal to consider the life of bees as a threshold for human health risk, Honeybee larvae will be used to determine the environmental impact of pesticides.
The American Society for Testing and Materials ASTM proposed new standard, ASTM WK36581, Practice for in Vitro Rearing of Honeybee Larvae, is being developed by Subcommittee E47.02 on Terrestrial Assessment and Toxicology, part of ASTM International Committee E47 on Biological Effects and Environmental Fate.
Among the pesticides are specified insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. The Association invites those interested in this field to attend the International Committee E47 on Biological Effects and Environmental Fate. For more information go to www.astm.org/JOIN

(Macia, Entre Rios, April 1st 2012) This past weekend was held the exhibition of agricultural, livestock and beekeeping in Macia, Entre Rios. The weather was great, very sunny and pleasant. The organization was exceeded once again with a more extended campus, very neat, clean and very comfortable especially for exhibitors enjoyed a parking area more than enough. Another highlight was the wide diffusion that took the "National Beekeeping Party". Presentations of the exhibition were made in many cities in Entre Rios, but also in cities of Santa Fe, Corrientes and Misiones. Finally, the organizers brought in "direct flight" from Brussels to Macia, the President of the Commission for Technology and Quality of Beekeeping Products of Apimondia: Etienne Bruneau to lecture on current market honey. The party also included the visit of the Governor of Entre Rios, the Vice-President of Apimondia and the National Beekeeping Coordinator. The Ministry of Tourism of the Nation hired very expensive art shows, with the presence of "Soledad" (popular singer) among others. Still, the audience was considerably lower than in the previous edition.

(Macia, April 1st 2012 - Fernando Esteban) Etienne Bruneau spoke with us on Sunday morning in Macia and told us that is not yet resolved the issue of the presence of pollen from transgenic plants into honey (GM pollen). We said him that we are working to adapt to new standards of honey arisen in France, Germany and Europe from the issue of the presence of pollen from genetically modified plants (GM pollen) in honey and he said it was "very risky because we also face analysis and any contamination could interfere and override the job done". He also said that "promoters of all this trouble do not represent anybody, EPBA is a very small organization where beekeepers are neither French nor Spanish, nor Italian, nor the Greeks". Then we asked him what he thought about the French decree signed on January 30 on the labeling of apiculture products "GMO-free within 3km" and that we publish in "Espacio Apicola" No. 100 and he told us "is a voluntary labeling and yet he does not seem right, or good because the risk will remain".A transgenic pollen reaches far France from Spain, he said. Finally we asked whether it will be modified European Standard on honey and he did not know if it was going to change, it is not clear whether to modify or rather to clarify the terms and the concept of pollen in honey as a component and not as "ingredient ". "Everything depends on the agreement reached by DG-AGRI and DG SANCO." If the SANCO requested the rule change for honey ... AGRI want to know what benefit they get in return, and not necessarily SANCO is willing to give. So time passes, the agreement is not reached and the situation remains unresolved.

(Córdoba, April 1st 2012) From "Espacio Apicola" still think we need to prepare to meet the requirements of different standards on honey based on the information and documents published in our edition No. 100. Moreover, there were always risks and standards already formally take different tolerances. Because of this, besides lectures on "start beekeeping", "intensive management of beehives" or "bees nutrition", we plan to provide tools to "identify areas of production according to different markets" in the next "XX Fair and Beekeeping Meeting from de Center of the Country", San Francisco Api-Expo 2012, on May Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th in San Francisco, Cordoba, Argentina.-

(December 18th 2011 - Espacio Apicola) There were two meetings regarding GM pollen in honey last week.
The meeting of the European Comission (EC) in Brussels on Monday 12th and the Workshop organized by the German Ministry of Agriculture in Berlin on Tuesday and Wednesday 13 and 14th.
The EC is upset because Germany react in advance without agreement with the EC. Also they didn't want to attend at Berlin meeting because it is also an iniciative without any consultation. But finally the EC was present in the Woorkshop looking for consensus. All the people in the EC think that the resolution of the Court is a bad interpretation of the Directive on Honey, except German people.
What has happened in Berlin?
The ministry of agriculture of Germany is open to discuss but the preasure of German people against OGM is so high then they are looking for strong arguments to answer with enough force against the "Green" party.
Official technicians from Europe and also Germany has not a protocol to work. It is very difficult to take a representative and homogenic sample. The DIN norm ask 15% of the honey for sampling. This is only possible in shelf sampling not in bulk.
If it is not easy to sampling, the PCR technic to check if there are GM material, and to check if it is an authorized or not event and to thereafter quantify it is even harder. Then nobody from official laboratories and institutions offer a technic solution.
The Argentine presentation lectured by Ms Paula Lanzelotti concluded the meeting saying that pollen is not an ingredient and we need to check it as part of the honey (Like the EC is proposing). Then if labeling threshold is 0,9 % and the total pollen amount in honey is about 0,1 % the GM pollen is very insignificant, it is difficult to check and it will be always bellow the threshold then it is not necesary to discuss about it and the Directive on Honey is clear about it and there are not problem with the Directive on OGM products.
The German beekeeper Walter Haefeker from the EPBA said "you can solve a legal problem but not the absence of GM pollen in honey if you do not take enough measures in origin. Then in Germany our costumers are asking for GM free honeys"
Regarding "meassures from the origin" we also talk about the difficulties on coexistance between GM cultivation and conventional regarding weather conditions, movements of trucks and movement of beekeepers.
Conclusion: The EC is asking to European Countries not to make any action before its resolution but in fact Germany do it.
Members of EC are proposing a change of the Directive of Honey but it will take time.
Surely, Germany will walk alone with own rules.
Before EC decision there are no rules and market is ambiguous.
It depends on commercial agreements between parts. The Court will work with precedent sentence of Bablock case.

(October 7th 2011 - Espacio Apicola) Only two emissaries from the European Union were enough to hold the expectations of a couple of thousands of Argentines, Brazilians, Chileans and Uruguayans in Apimondia claiming the European Union to open its market to honeys with traces of GMO pollen.
During the conference developed in "La Rural" in Buenos Aires, Mr. Walter Haefeker and Mr. Etiénne Bruneau took calmy the mocking lesson from transgenic wonders provided by geneticist Esteban Hopp -INTA-, in turn, they reaffirmed the position of the European Court. Particularly Haefeker reported that who produces honey with GMO must sell outside Europe.
Did not take long the traditional boasts of some people saying "they need our honey." To this, the European Union also responded with a harsh humiliation on September 30th. From November 1st. 2011, the honey from India will be allowed to enter the European Union. With India and China as suppliers, the European honey market seems to solve the main quality problem: price.

(September 13th 2011) There are two basic facts that determine the future of the Argentine Beekeeping. One is the resolution of the European Court against the presence of transgenic pollen as ingredient in honey. The other is the announcement of the Agri-Food Strategic Plan, Argentina 2020.
The European Court's ruling is consistent with legislation then, to access the European honey market, we will have to follow all the steps according to the regulations, as described in the editor's words of "Espacio Apicola" magazine No. 98.
The announcement of the Agri-food Strategic Plan (PEA) made by the President of Argentina, based on a technological package of Genetically Modified Organisms, no-till sowing and chemicals, implies a challenge to beekeeping.
On the one hand, the option offered by the National Government is to regard beekeeping as social containment tool (under the umbrella of "Beekeeping for Rural Development"). On the other hand, the needs of commercial beekeepers: the course of action and the options to be discussed by the industry and by beekeepers as explained in the article "Argentine Beekeeping in a hinge".

(June 14th 2011) Finally, the EU gave the strike announced last February.
As reported in the Uruguayan newspaper "La Republica", the EU took away the status of "natural" to honeys from that country, because they contain GMO pollen.
As with Nitrofurans in 2003, the EU will use this scheme to fall down the honey price. This affects especially to those countries that were in line with European standards of Good Beekeeping Practice and HACCP standards of honey homogenization.
It is worth remembering that at the end of 2010, Great Britain, authorized again the use of nitrofurans in poultry production.
Will the UE punish Bayer and Monsanto to distort life or a few Euros for the "innocent victim beekeeper" will be enough?
On the other hand, what defense we could expect from governments whose economies depend on GMOs?
Source: http://www.larepublica.com.uy/economia/457159-miel-pierde-su-estatus-natural

(April 29th. 2011) Last February 9th 2011, Europa Press sprayed the news of a case of a german beekeeper who produce honey near fields of Bayern state, where MOM 810 is seed with European Union autorization since 1998 for investigations.
DNA of this GMO corn and modified proteins were detected in pollen collected by beehives around these fields. Traces of MON 810 DNA was detected in some honey samples.
Considering that the presence of GMO corn residues makes his products unaviable to be solt or consumed, the beekeeper started legal actions against Bayern state in German courts.
While several brokers say that it is an internal problem of a German beekeeper against Bayern state, to European buyers it is an excelent "casual" excuse to freeze the market and fall down the honey price at the end of March.
Argentine exporters made bussiness during the first two month of 2011 for about 50% of the whole done during 2010.
After 6 years having detected the problem, when the market just left the "Nitrofurane parody", this case get out of the drawers in a German court to stop the market when the honey price rice over USD 3000 per ton. This stage is quite similar to the same before Slovenian Congress 2003.
The absurdity of the situation and its actors is unsustainable; as well as to those European brokers that are "on vacation". No need to be very suspicious to understand that since 1998 up today, this GMO pollen did several trips around Europe and it could be found where you want to look for, as well as others GMO crops along Europe.
This situation give advantage once more to Argentine exporters who work with USA in front of those that attend the European market. Market that for the odd jobs of some natural alkaloids present in some honeys, is now preparing to manipulate the price with this new excuse.
As in 2003-2005 ALL the honey will be sold, just a matter of seeing who can hold the honey.
During the next days the court must pronounce sentence and a decision is expected to guide the honey market after June.
It is expected that only an inclusion of a warning consumers paragraph on the labels about the possible presence of GMO traces were imposed.
We will be able to attend this topic next May, Saturday 7th, during the Rio Cuarto Api-Expo carried out in the Rio Cuarto Rural Society facilities, Córdoba, Argentina.
Original source: Europa Press

(April 22nd. 2011) Fortyfive specialists from four continents took part in the "Pellston Worksop on Potential Risks of Plant Protection Products to Pollinators" carried out in Pensacola, Florida, USA, last January 16 to 21st 2011.
Meeting addressed key issues on the effect of pesticides on honey bees.
Scientist from institutes of beekeeping, university researchers, directors of state agencies for pesticides regulation and some representative of private companies in order to rich a balanced discussion between the parties.
The argentine resercher Teodoro Stadler, PhD, from the Environmental Toxicology Laboratory (Laboratorio de Toxicología Ambiental, member of the Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo - IMBECU - CRICyT - CONICET, Mendoza, Argentina) took part on this workshop.
Stadler will share the results of this workshop and local research findings in a conference in the auditoruim of the "Sociedad Rural de Río Cuarto" (Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina) next Saturday May 7th at 18:00. This conference takes place in the context of the "XIX Fair and Beekeeping Meeting from the Centre of the Country" organized by "Espacio Apicola" magazine with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food of Cordoba province and the endorsement of the "Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto".
Lecture title: "Pellston Workshop Report on Potential Risks of Plant Protection Products to Pollinators (January 2011, Pensacola, Florida, USA) and Local Research Findings"
Further information: info@apicultura.com.ar

(Monheim, November 16, 2010) – Bayer CropScience announced today that it has acquired a product for the efficient control of varroa mites (Varroa destructor) from Exosect Ltd., Winchester, United Kingdom. The market launch of this new bee health product in the United States is planned for 2011. First registrations in major European countries are expected from 2012 onwards. The acquisition also enables Bayer CropScience to develop innovative bee health solutions and to commercialize new bee health products worldwide. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The product is based on the innovative Entostat™ technology, a food grade powder refined from a natural wax which is sustainably harvested from a particular species of palm tree, combined with the miticidal active ingredient thymol. After being spread directly onto the top of the frames, bees start to clean the powder out of the hive. It adheres to their bodies via electrostatic attraction. As they move throughout the hive, the powder is distributed to other bees and onto the framework of the hive, including open brood cells.
"Bayer is aware of its responsibility as a producer both of crop protection products and of bee health products", said Dr. Franz-Josef Placke, Head of Development at Bayer CropScience. "Therefore, we are investing in research and development to provide beekeepers with sustainable solutions to improve the health of their bees and beehives."
Press release: Bayer CropScience

(Córdoba, August, 28th 2010) In the assembly hall of Pabellón Argentina and the Faculty of Medicine Secretary of Graduates it was held the "First meeting of physicians from Fumigated Villages", last August Friday 27th and Saturday 28th. Espacio Apícola was present collecting first hand information.
In the centennial National University of Córdoba (UNC), founded by the Jesuits in the XVII Century and worldwide known because of the famous University Reformation ("Reforma Universitaria") of 1918, the most genuine will of scientific honesty wheeled out. After almost a hundred years serving "modernity", several tens of physicians from Fumigated Villages aroused the obsequious university structures to denounce the fast increase in spontanous abortions and congenital malformations caused by the contamination with agrochemicals. The most appointed ones were the Endosulfan and the Glyphosate with their correspondent coadjuvants, due to the fact of being the most studied among more than 100 thousand molecules that form the different "phytosanitary" prodcuts, as merchants of GMO food changes like to call.
PhD Rodolfo Páramo, pediatrician and neotatologist from Malabrigo, located in the northern central part of Santa Fe, described how he realized about the toxicity of agrochemicals when many women had spontanous abortions and/or their children were born with malformations while the grain silos were placed in the downtown. Said situation changed, in part, when they removed the silos from the city. He also explained how he felt betrayed by SENASA when said institution authorized the use of Glyphosate and other acrochemicals labeled as safe, when nowadays it has been proved their hight risk to population in general and for pregnant women in particular.
PhD Raúl Horacio Lucero, Chief of the Molecular Biology Lab from Universidad Nacional del NorEste (UNNE), presented a list of malformations in newly born kids whose mothers were daily exposed, especially during the first weeks of gestation, to the fumigations in the cotton fields of Chaco province.
PhD Gladys Trombotto, genetist of UNC Maternity ward, showed how the cases of congenial malformations increased without any change in the historical risk factors.
In turn, PhD Hugo Gómez Demaio, Chief of the pediatrics service of Posadas Hospital in Misiones, apart from showing the statistics and notorious congenial malformation cases in children of peasants from the region, he also highlighted that the interference of agrochemicals as endocrine disruptors cause from effeminacy to the complete inability to engender males due to the lack of testosterone during the first stage in the neural crest formation, before the fifth week of gestation.
The meeting, that included during the opening ceremony the presence of PhD Gustavo Irico, Dean of Faculty of Medicine UNC, was good for the information exchange and to joing profesionals from different provinces.
Among the presentations, Dr. Andrés Carrasco's was highlighted. The director of UBA Molecular Embriology Lab and CONICET researcher refered to his work "Glyphosate-Based Herbicides produce Teratogenic Effects on Vertebrates by Impairing Retinoic Acid Signaling". Said work, that was ignored and even vilified by the National Minister of Science and Technique, Lino Barañao, was published in the magazine Chemical Research in Toxicoly, last July.
Closing the event, chiefs of different chairs of UNC Faculty of Medicine concluded that there was enough evidence to demand immediate protective measures.

(Córdoba, August 25th 2010) There is a great movement of beehives in areas of blueberries, citrus, almond, fuit trees and Native Forest.
After a long time of bitter cold, Argentine beekeepers are hopeful and looking for new horizons. The risk of late frosts is high.
The next season is the central topic of the edition 93 of our magazine "Espacio Apicola".
Information generated by the Argentine Beekeeping site.

(La Paz, Mza, August 25th 2010) Mendoza beekeepers convened the fourth edition of the competition in "La Paz" county. There will be the selection of queen bees and award next December 4 and 5th. You are welcome to meet and share ! More http://centroapicolalujandecuyo.blogspot.com

(Lavalle, Mza, August 25th 2010) With high profile of the Queen Bees Breeders Association of Mendoza, LAVALLE city calls for an Api Expo next September 10 to 12th. A meeting where beekeepers teach beekeepers and a commercial hall joins Argentine companies with Argentine and Chilean beekeepers.

(Buenos Aires, August 25th 2010) 1 USD = 3,94 ARS
1 Honey Kg = 9,25 ARS = 2,34 USD
1 pound = 1,06 USD aprox.

(August 18th 2010) The National Honey Show of Azul (Buenos Aires province), carried out in June was a success in relation to poor beekeeping season. Organizers declined the invitation only to Saturday with a good criterion. It was the best show of the year.
This weekend 20, 21 and 22 August the appointment is in Rosario under Sonia Torre & Associates organization.

(Zacatecas, June 1st 2010) The "Small hive beetle" (Aethina tumida), native of South Africa, was detected in the United States in May 1998 and the State of Coahila, Mexico, in 2008. Recently it has been reported in the State of Zacatecas showing his steady progress in the Northern country.
In addition to the prophylactic measures recommended for beehives treatment, is to highlight the suggestion of removing the soil surrounding the colonies to cut the reproductive cycle of the beetle.
Full text on El Sol de Zacatecas

(Buenos Aires, Argentina - May 23rd, 2010) It is available now the list of conferences to be expound during the next "Fiesta Nacional de la Miel" in Azul (Buenos Aires province) from JUNE 26th to 27th. You can access it via the link on this page.

(Córdoba, Argentina - May 4th 2010) Beekeeper René Monteverdi and his brothers Raúl and Daniel from Balnearia, Córdoba, Argentina will share their updating experience next Saturday during the San Francisco api-expo. They started beekeeping activity 20 years ago in a cattle rissing area and now they have all their beehives on pallets to move along the country.
The Api Expo starts next May 7th at 16:00 with a lecture in charge of Cordovan University proffesors and finishes on Sunday 9th after several beekeepers' proposals about beehive nutrition.
The program has been updated today. Check it in www.apicultura.com.ar

Argentina (March 5th 2010) - Some colleagues from "Pampa úmeda" region told us that they harvested honeys with a little more moisture than the normal this season. Due to a lot of rainfall during the crop season.
It is advisable to control that moisture and to sell this honeys above the normal values as soon as possible.

USA (March 5th 2010) - In spite of predictions it was noticed beehives shortage for almond pollination in California, once more. Beekeepers have been received offers of U$s 200 per beehives (in fact nuclei) "with two frames of bees and above". American beekeepers, affected by CCD, would appeal to Aussies bees packages.

(March 5th 2010) - Maciá city party includes a beekeeping show, it will be visited by the president of Apimondia, Gilles Rattia, this year. Among the invited artists it will be singing "Peteco Carabajal" and "Chaqueño Palavecino" two of the most important Argentine folklore singers. The appointment is in Maciá, Entre Ríos, next March 26th to 28th.

(March 5th 2010) - The Rural Society of Chivilcoy summons to the new edition of its beekeeping exhibition next April 17th and 18th.

The "18th Fair and Beekeeping Meeting from the Center of the Country" will be carried out in San Francisco (Córdoba, Argentina), "apex of Argentine Beekeeping towards the North of the Country", on May 7th to 9th. Further informationwww.apicultura.com.ar

(Córdoba, February 13th 2010) It has Already arrived to all our subscribers the 90th edition of "Espacio Apícola" beekeeping magazine. Soon it will be available a synthesis in this site. You can read in advance the editor words and index clicking here.
The honey crop has been good in many regions of Buenos Aires province and there have been honey again, after four years, in La Pampa province.
Santa Fe, Córdoba and Mendoza suffered the effects of a lingering drought followed by virulent storms and heavy rains. Flowers washed by the rain and few sunny days in the necessary moment made the honey crops to fail in many regions of these provinces.
The rainfall forecast for the next two weeks in the Mesopotamia, added to the soil moisture saturation and the overflowing of many rivers, condition the honey crop in Entre Ríos and the south of Corrientes province.
Even when we have the capacity to control part of the natural forces and also mitigate their negative effects, the bad agricultural practices increase the destructive effect of these forces out of their own limits. Massive deforestation, clearfield and no-till sowing (siembra directa), as if it was the only agricultural technology, have eliminated the natural barriers of contention of winds and rainfalls.
Rainwater runs on compacted fields for "no till sowing" looking for the sea. The use of the "chisel" (tool of spikes to break the compacted fields and to facilitate water absorption) is not either enough, or comparable to the penetration that roots of native forests offer.
Groundwater doesn't recover their storing level and the disappearance of forests moved away the rainfalls of the natural watershed of the mountain ranges. Desertification affects not only much of Argentine Beekeeping, but also the same landowners that paradoxically will be subsidized by the disasters that in many cases have caused themselves. For our habitual subscribers, it is the chronicle of an announced catastrophe.
How does the Argentine Beekeeping advance and how are it and its relation with the world modified?
Follow this Espacio Apícola closely. Remember to update your subscription for 2010.
In Argentina $ 60 (five editions, shipping included)
Rest of the world U$S 40 (five editions, shipping included)

(Cordoba, December 13th 2009) Digital photos and computers optimize the techniques to determine bee races.
The use of digital photos and image vectorizing softwares have allowed traditional morphometrical taxonomy identify africanized bees just with a picture of the right forewing of bees.
A photographic image is transformed into vectors able to be related to one another and analyzed in logical form by a statistical softwares in a few minutes. Tiago Francoy, from USP (Brazil), applied this technique to determine africanized bees and he achieved an effectiveness of more than 99%. He made the comparative works using the Rutner collection as reference and samples from the whole Brazil. Detailed description of the technique, results and the charts that identify the main commercial bees races were published in Espacio Apicola edition No. 89. The main queenbees breeders from Argentina are considering it and its success can be significant for the international bees market. More information inform@apicultura.com.ar

(December 13th, 2009) Despite the delay, rains are arriving in the central region of Argentina. At the end of November Mr. Enrique Vairolatti, from San Francisco (northeast of Cordoba province) a region with a high concentration of beehives, told us that bees had already taken two small suppers. The area surrounding Rio Cuarto city, south of Cordoba and San Luis provinces, began to receive good rainfalls at the beginning of December. At the same time, Mr. Mario Iaconis from National Radio of Bahia Blanca city announced significant rainfalls in the Southwest of Buenos Aires province. The hydric balance is good in the whole coastal region (coast of Parana river, Center and East of Buenos Aires province and the whole Mesopotamia).

We have upgraded the information of honey and beewax exporter, suppliers of materials, machineries and inputs companies that also support this information and training Space at the service of the Argentine Beekeeping. Check the new telephone guide and E-mails in "Argentine Beekeeping Exporters and Suppliers"

(November 24th 2009) The National Union of Beekeeping of France (UNAF) ratified in Apimondia its accusation against the Imidacloprid, the Fipronil and neonicotinoids as well as the Thiametoxan but UNAF went farther and demonstrated that the Ministry of Agriculture of France hides the technical reports to the control agency of the European Union.
The president of the European Professional Beekeepers Association (EPBA), Walter Haefeker, affirmed in Montpellier that the German government, compensated beekeepers whose beehives were damaged by Bayer Crop Science products but, the German government demanded beekeepers to throw away pollen frames polluted with pesticides to eliminate any evidence of the chronic intoxication that beehives exposed to pesticides suffer. That intoxication is produced by airborne dust during coated corn seeding, by remains of coated seeds in field, by puddles polluted with pesticides and by drops of gutation of plants born from coated seeds with systemic pesticides, recently demonstrated and published in the USA.
Before the latest call to decide the approval of pesticides in the United Kingdom next January 2010, David Ramsden (Member of the Beekeepers Association of Twickenham, London) exhorted all British Beekeepers to let their delegates know what they think before voting in BBKA meetings. "As you may know, the British Beekeepers Association endorses some pesticides, and in return receives income from the manufacturers -said David- For me, it is a simple question of ethics. Not a scientific or technical one, as there is insufficient evidence to come to any absolute conclusion regarding the danger of the various products to bees. The question I beg is the ethical proposition “should the BBKA endorse these products for money?” My answer is no." affirm David in a message spread by Phil Chandler last Friday November 20. This problem is discussed in detail in "Espacio Apícola" n. 89.

(Página 12 Newspaper - Argentina - April 13th 2009) A laboratory scientific investigation confirms glyphosate is highly toxic and it causes devastating effects in embryos. Glyphosate is the Roundup® active ingredient, a total herbicide what is based the soya been production and the main source of clearfield idea, registered by Monsanto Corp. Thus, it was determined by the Laboratory of Molecular Embryology, CONICET-UBA (Faculty of Medicine) that, with dilutions dose up to 1500 less than those used in the fumigations of soya fields, it was proved intestinal and heart dysfunctions, malformations and neuronal deteriorations. The study, carried out in embryos, is the first one in its type and it refutes the supposed harmlessness of the herbicide.
The Laboratory of Molecular Embryology is twenty years working in academic investigations. It is placed in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and linked to the National Council of Scientific and Technical Investigations (CONICET). It is the most important reference on the matter in Argentina, conformed by graduates in biochemistry, genetics and biology. During the last fifteen months they studied the effect of the glyphosate in amphibious embryos, from the fecundation until the organism acquires the morphological characteristics of the species.
Next to the glyphosate they are also studing their helpings as POEA that, when working as a detergent, it is an animal fat derivated that has high toxicity and residual power.
Source and full text: http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-123111-2009-04-13.html

(Newscast of Rural Channel - Thursday 29/01/09 15:15 GMT) Images from the National Meteorological Service show the deficit of water in the soil of the central region and the Argentinean Northeast. From yellow to red it is shown that the situation is serious and extreme respectively. Only in green areas it is acceptable the water retained level of the soil. The factors that worsen the drought are several and firstly the anthropic changes play an important role. In this situation the bee hardly survives, it does not turn out.
Check the image from Google
Source: National Meteorological service

(Newscast of Rural Channel - Thursday 29/01/09 15:15 GMT) It is known that Argentina imports pollen and royal jelly. Only honey is exported and some wax; occasionally and in insignificant quantities, queen bees and propolis are also exported.
In the edition number 43 of the magazine "Alimentos Argentinos" by SAGPyA (National Secretary of Cattle Raising, Agriculture and Food) (December of 2008) it was published what is called "Numbers of beekeeping chain", where it is said that Argentina exports 93% of the honey that turns out, for more than U$S 150 million.
According to the published data, those U$S 150 million annually is enough to amortize 3,39 million beehives, the honey extraction rooms, the operative expenses of the annual calendar and to keep 100.000 jobs!.
It seems that living in Argentina is so cheap! that as the incomes (according to this data) for each job is about U$S 1500 a year, the Argentinean State maintains an export tax for honey of 10% and it would not be necessary to do away with the right customs that Argentinean honey pays to enter in Europe, about 17%... It seems this does not affect the competitiveness of Argentina in the "generous" honey market.
We beg our readers not to believe in these numbers published by SAGPyA. Because of this kind of articles, not as irresponsible as this particular one, the Argentinean beekeepers had to stand the anti-dumping sanctions that the US Department of Commerce (DOC) imposed some years ago. In Argentina U$S 1500 annually is hardly enough to pay the social insurance and the contribution for the job of a rural worker without any qualifications.
Abrir imagen guardada en Google
Source: Alimentos Argentinos nº 43 - December of 2008 - SAGPYA Argentina. Fuente: Revista Alimentos Argentinos nº 43 - Diciembre de 2008 - SAGPYA Argentina

(January 29th, 2009) The Co-op, which owns 25,000 hectares of farm land in Britain - banned the use of neonicotinoid pesticides on all its farms to protect honeybees.
Simon Press, senior technical manager at the Co-op group said: "We believe that the recent losses in bee populations need definitive action, and as a result are temporarily prohibiting the eight neonicotinoid pesticides until we have evidence that refutes their involvement in the decline." Paul Monaghan, the Co-op's head of social goals accused the UK government of failing to recognise that "pesticides could be a contributing factor" in the breakdown of nature's number one pollinating machine.
Full story http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/28/bees-coop-pesticide
BBC Interviewhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/listen_again/default.stm
Source: BeeAlert

(January 27th, 2009) It has already been distributed the edition No. 85 of our Argentine Beekeepers' Magazine "Espacio Apícola" completing the five editions of 2008. Remember to renew your subscription (Spanish only, for foreing countries U$S 40 per year.- Five editions shipping and handling included). For further information inform@apicultura.com.ar

(September 13th 2008) 400 beehives died and other 200 were affected in hardly one weekend in Venado Tuerto, Santa Fe, Argentina.
Bee illnesses were not detected. Neither there were fumigations in the area.
The main suspicions are the emanations of two local industries dispersed by the wind.
The involved industries would produce high dioxine levels, a substance generated mainly by plastic incineration.
A similar phenomenon was reported 10 years ago near Laguna Paiva, also in Santa Fe province where there was a pathogenic residues oven.
Source: Beekeepers Association of Venado Tuerto.

María Luisa Pignata PhD verified high levels of environmental contamination studying Nickel and Zinc concentrations in "Clavel del Aire" (Tillandsia spp.) around Río Tercero city, Córdoba province. "Clavel del Aire" are those small plants that we usually see in the electricity or telephone cables or sticked in tree branches. These vegetables feed on nutrients that are spread in the air and their study is used to verify the environmental contamination. The ovens where this contamination would come also emanate dioxines, that beside these heavy metals in high concentrations are also highly toxic.
Source: María Luisa Pignata PhD, FCEFyN-UNC

In areas of Córdoba province where it is practiced the pigeon hunt, 1000 annual lead tones are spread as ammunitions of shotguns, a true lead mine. As metal, lead is not necessarily toxic but, in contact with other substances in the field, it is oxidized and it becomes soluble transformed in a highly toxic substance. The small size of ammo makes them easier oxidable. This allows the absorption of heavy metals by plants and they put in risk several agricultural productions, mainly those that look for an organic certification.
Source: María Luisa Pignata PhD, FCEFyN-UNC