The Secret to Better Berries? Wild Bees
First study to reveal wild bees’ impacts on blueberry size, quality from UVM's Gund Institute for Environment.
Want bigger, faster-growing blueberries? New research shows wild bees are an essential secret ingredient in larger and better blueberry yields – producing plumper, faster-ripening berries.
Summer 2019 Keynote Speaker Announced
Humberto Boncristiani, has been confirmed as the keynote speaker for the Vermont Beekeepers Association Summer 2019 meeting on July 13.
Dr. Boncristiani is the honey bee husbandry applied researcher at the University of Florida Honey Bee Research and Extension Lab. Boncristiani has a diverse background in honey bee research, having worked in a government institution (USDA), academia (UNCG, UMD), private industry, with the National Research Council, and having come from a beekeeping family. At the Honey Bee Research and Extension Lab, Boncristiani conducts honey bee husbandry research that is directly applicable to commercial beekeeper operations in the state of Florida and across the country.
Treatment Free Beekeeping from Ross Conrad
A great finale to the 2018 ACBA season with Ross Conrad presenting his approach to treatment free beekeeping. Forty guests coming from Fairfax, Chelsea, Addison 
County and even Massachusetts...
Special shout out to the UVM bee club for coming on down to our meeting.#honeybee #vba.
More pictures on our Facebook page.
Support Request for the Vermont Bee Research Team
Dear Vermont Beekeepers,
In December 2016, we appealed to the beekeeping community to make a donation through Experiment.com to support a research project on effects of migratory beekeeping practices on honey bee disease (link). We were fortunate to receive enough support to conduct an experiment in which we compared disease loads in a group of stationary hives with those in a group we sent to California for almond pollination. We have some very interesting results with real-world applications to improve honey bee health, and are excited to report that a manuscript describing this work is accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal!
Proposal: VBA Recognition Program
The VBA Board of Directors is considering enhancements to the VBA Recognition program. We would like to form a committee consisting of one or more Board members as well as interested VBA members to develop any ideas and potentially implement the Recognition program. The information below was proposed as a starting point at our last VBA Board meeting. If you would be willing to help out on this effort, please contact VBA Board member, Fred Putnam, at 802-247-3323 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Thank you for your interest!
Recent Events in Pictures...
Amanda Werner provided these images from the September 29 Northern Yard Workshop on getting things ready for winter. Kim Greenwood sent along more photos from the Tunbridge Fair.
Sweet Days at the Tunbridge Fair - 2018
From left to right: Ron Hernandez, Tony Antonucci & John Mcneil
...with Bill Mares and Scott Wilson
The Allurements of Theorists
"The Allurements of Theorists" is an article from a simpler time, written in language that reflects the era.
Bee culture is a very profitable as well as fascinating pursuit, yet in choosing it as a profession a person must be very sure he likes it above all other trades, or he will not be very sure to make a success of it. The trade a person engages in is never to blame for the failure of the person who has adopted it. If you like your team you will take good c
are of it ; just so with your trade, no matter what it may be. After having made sure you like bee keeping as a trade, make up your mind to drive it well, and never let it drive you.
