Bayer launches new ‘Honey bee care’ brochure

Bayer have recently produced a new brochure promoting care of the honey bee and how the responsible use of pesticides plays a vital role.

Relevant to all pesticide users, including groundsmen, greenkeepers, maintenance workers and landscapers, the brochure "Honey bee care - Challenges and solutions" covers three main topics: honey bee health (pathogens, nutrition, weather); honey bee safety (regarding pesticides); and Bayer's commitment and contribution to honey bee health and safety - including Bayer's provision of Varroa mite and small hive beetle products.

Click on image right to open Brochur

Close examination of honey bee health challenges reveals a variety and combination of causes involved. Although challenges and losses have been described for centuries, bees more recently face new challenges:

• The parasitic Varroa mite, which has spread to almost all Western honey bee hives (but Australia) over the past 60 years, and which transmits viral infections

• Habitat loss, and with it, forage loss

• Iincreasingly unfavourable weather conditions

Strong linkages exist between agriculture and apiculture, so special care must be taken to use pesticides in a "bee responsible" way. Bayer's activities from research to use in the fields are also highlighted.

The brochure has been especially written for an informed target audience: interested members of the general public, policymakers, beekeepers, farmers, and other relevant stakeholders.

The brochure is available to download for free from www.escience.bayercropscience.co.uk

Claire Matthewman
Product Manager
Bayer CropScience Ltd.
Tel: 01223 226516
Email: Claire.matthewman@bayer.com
Website: www.escience.bayercropscience.co.uk