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Dr. Jeff Pettis left the USDA some time ago to pursue other avenues of research. His current work is studying issues with queens, primarily longevity, affect of pesticides, virus interactions, shipping problems and more. Relatedly, he is working with...
Dr. Jeff Pettis left the USDA some time ago to pursue other avenues of research. His current work is studying issues with queens, primarily longevity, affect of pesticides, virus interactions, shipping problems and more. Relatedly, he is working with drones, which of course play a big role in how queens produce. He’s looking at sperm issues, affects of pesticides, mating problems, heat stress and mating success.
He’s also working with varroa resistance to miticides, affects of miticides on queens, workers and drones and essentially what is working, and what isn’t and why.
In-between research projects, he is expanding his beekeeping operation with his son, running up to 75 colonies, doing some local pollination work, and producing and selling his honey at local outlets.
In his 'spare' time... he has been serving as the Bee Health Commissioner for the International Beekeeping Association Apimondia for the past 8 or 9 years, and in 2019 was the first American Elected President of that group. His goals are to establish better communication between the group and the worlds beekeepers and to concentrate on global honey fraud, a major issue everywhere.
Listen in and learn much more about Apimondia and what the future holds as the first American President takes over with a new and exciting agenda.
Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode –
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We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum.
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Thank you for listening!
Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"
PhD, President of Apimondia
Dr. Jeff Pettis, Research Scientist and Consultant, Pettis and Associates LLC
As former research leader of the USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, MD and now an independent consultant, Dr. Pettis has focused on improving colony health by limiting the impact of pests, diseases and pesticides on honey bees. His research areas include: IPM techniques to reduce the impacts of parasitic mites and disease, effects of pesticides, pathogens, and temperature on queen health and longevity, host-parasite relationships and bee behavior.
Dr. Pettis is the current President of Apimondia, the International Federation of Beekeeper’s Associations and serves on several international committees including the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and with more than 35 years of research experience conducted in more than 15 countries; he is frequently interviewed by the media for his opinions on worldwide pollinator declines and honey bee health. Dr. Pettis received undergraduate and MS degrees in Entomology from the University of Georgia and his doctoral degree in Entomology from Texas A&M University in 1992.
