posted 27 October 2004 09:46            

23 October 2004

Autumn has come to Denmark with dark, windy, rainy days. The bees have been fed for winter and we are doing the last treatment to control Varroa mites. Most beekeepers do that by trickling with an Oxalic Acid solution.

The summer was cool and rainy, so the honey crop has been rather poor.

APIMONDIA has been active during the summer months. We have had many contacts to beekeepers and beekeepers associations all over the world.

The conference “Cooperatives in Beekeeping.” Mendoza, Argentina. 2 – 5. September was well organised proving that the Beekeepers Associations of Argentina are capable of organising great events.

Co-operatives play a strong role in beekeeping in Argentina and have contributed to the high level of professionalism in the beekeeping industry.

Issues concerning developing countries International trade in honey” Hanoi, Vietnam, 23-28. November.

Vietnam has increased its production and export of honey during the last few years. This has created income and jobs. World trade in honey depends upon honey meeting import criteria, and this requires understanding of all the processes necessary to gain market access. Participants in the symposium will be honey producer organisations, honey trade specialists, those responsible for preparing and enforcing legislation concerning residues and researchers in the field of residue identification and quantification and in residue-free management methods.

As our conference in Celle this spring proved, residues of antibiotics and other drugs in Honey are the main risks in the international honey trade. Residues have created great problems to Chinese beekeepers who were excluded from their main markets for 3 years. I would like to congratulate the Chinese beekeepers for their great efforts to solve the problems, so that they are now allowed to export their honey again.

We must all do our utmost to develop means and methods to produce honey without residues of any kind. In cooperation with the Honey Packers International Association HIPA we are working in several groups to establish guidelines and protocols to avoid the use of antibiotics in beekeeping.
We are working to establish internationally recognised levels of action to minimise the problems in the international honey-trade. These issues are important to discuss in Hanoi.

I am convinced that beekeepers will not be able to make a living from beekeeping in the future unless we learn to produce high quality honey without residues. We must produce and sell a high quality product.

I hope to meet you or your representatives there.

APIMONDIA2005 Dublin, Ireland

This is the event for everybody involved in Apiculture worldwide. Beekeepers, scientist, honey-traders, honey-packers and consumers. We have the large APIEXPO and the world honey-show.

The programme development is well advanced as you will see at the website of the congress. It is time now to start planning your visit to APIMONDIA2005 in Dublin, Ireland.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is end of January 2005. We want to organise a congress with high class scientific presentations, a large and interesting APIEXPO, meetings for professionals in apiculture and in marketing of products. Some nice entertainment is planned with an Irish evening and Australia is going to promote the congress 2007 in Melbourne.

Have a look at the congress website www.apimondia2005.com to learn more.

Looking forward to meeting the whole beekeeping world in Dublin August 2005.

Yours Sincerely

Asger Søgaard Jørgensen
APIMONDIA President