Subject: Varroa Resistance Saga

Something I've Been Discussing for Decades About Varroa.

Are you up to going to the States to help commercial beekeepers recover?

Hi Friend,

A recent significant study in beekeeping and apiculture focused on the potential for selective breeding to increase honey bee resistance to the Varroa mite, a major threat to bee populations, with the European Commission publishing results from a pilot study exploring methods to improve beekeeper access to resistant bee strains through breeding programmes; this research highlighted the effectiveness of selecting for Varroa tolerance in honey bees and outlined necessary breeding structures to achieve this goal.

Key points from the study:

Focus on Varroa resistance:
The primary focus of the study was on developing methods to breed honey bees with increased resistance to the Varroa mite, a major parasite affecting bee colonies globally.
Large-scale analysis:
This pilot project was considered one of the largest studies on honey bee selection ever conducted in Europe, examining the feasibility of breeding for Varroa resistance on a commercial scale.
Breeding strategy implications:
The study provided valuable insights into how beekeepers can access resistant bee stock, including the establishment of appropriate breeding structures to support this goal.

How This Works For You In South Africa?

We have trained beekeepers for over two decades how to ensure they respect all bees and colonies - especially wild bee colonies and to lure wild swarms as part of the apiary management to be proactive about genetic diversity!

Bee colonies that are surviving in the wild adapt and the strongest survive, as nature has always done. The challenge comes when beekeepers keep breeding with the same genetic pool of bees and DNA, without any introduction of wider genetic spectrum and adaptive abilities that get passed on from queen bee to queen bee.

The same is to be said for Varroa management. Beekeepers in America tend to have massive commercial beekeeping operations especially to cater for the Almonds and Blueberry farms there. Over 2.5 million hives get transported to California to pollinate just the Almonds Crops which result in 80% of the world's supply of almond nuts.

In 2023/2024, the United States produced 1.12 million metric tons of almonds, which was 77% of the global almond crop, according to the USDA [https://www.fas.usda.gov/data/production/commodity/0577400].

Bearing in mind that bumblebees are better pollinators than honeybees are in the USA, the farmers still use tens of thousands of colonies every year to produce 16% of the world's blueberry production! USA is the largest producer in the world at that output.

With beekeeping operations in the 10s of thousands being frequent enough in the States, it can be a challenge to manage genetic diversity and include natural varroa management providing the time needed for colonies that adapt to be bred and exchanged with other beekeepers!

It is much easier to treat with chemicals and these led to resistance by varroa over time - as I mentioned in newsletters over a decade ago and numerous times since in training, videos and talks.

I took a stance to not import any of the strips and chemicals touted as the 'solution' to the varroa mite pest handling over the more natural options as well as allowing and choosing varroa resistant bee colonies! Something akin to vaccine treatment... Not allowing the natural ability of nature to take it's course and for bees to adapt over time while also NOT enabling varroa mites to adapt with undue advantage in the arm's race.

It could be argued that by using these treatments it has weakened bees and their ability to gain upper hand over the varroa. By using these treatments, it is not clear as to how honeybees have been detrimentally impacted over time while the varroa mite has been put under pressure to have stronger genetic lines survive and now thrive.

Bees on the other hand, are not necessarily given the same opportunity while treatments could negatively influence them in addition to their exposure to glyphosate and noenicitinoids - both have an impact on honeybee gut biome and immune systems while memory is also effected.

Combine the above, with the continued lack of genetic diversity and hence the adaptability passed from generation to generation, and across multiple regional gene pools, and there's an argument that the American commercial beekeepers could be part of the cause of the gradual decline of the whole genetic pool...

P.S. Apparently, reports from some commercial beekeepers in the USA, earlier in February 2025, are that they have lost between 50-70% of their colonies over winter and some bee groups there have stated they won't have enough bee colonies to pollinate the almonds this year!

P.S.S. This could lead to a huge impact on the production and therefore the price of almonds and the products made with almonds such as almond milk, marzipan, almond flour and almond oil.