Speakers
Jennifer Berger
CDFA State Apiarist
CDFA Update | Tuesday, Nov 19, 10:30-11 AM
Marcie Skelton
Glenn County Ag Commissioner, California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association
Apiary Regulatory Update | Tuesday, Nov 19, 11-11:30 AM
Marcie Skelton has been the Glenn County Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer of Weights & Measures since 2015. Before this, she worked as an Agricultural Biologist/Weights and Measures Inspector for the Tehama County Department of Agriculture for 11 years. Marcie began her career as a high school agriculture science instructor and FFA Advisor in Shasta County, a role she had for three years. She holds a BS in Agriculture Science from Chico State University.
Growing up on her family’s cattle ranch in eastern Tehama County, Marcie developed a strong connection to agriculture and was a member of 4-H and FFA. She is also a dedicated 4-H volunteer, serving as a club and project leader. Marcie and her husband have three children, two in college and the youngest in high school.
Chris Hiatt
President, American Honey Producers Association
AHPA Update | Tuesday, Nov 19, 1-1:15 PM
Chris was born into a beekeeping family in Ephrata, Washington in 1975. He and his five brothers grew up spending springs managing apple pollination in central Washington and summers pulling and extracting honey in North Dakota. Together they now own Hiatt Honey Co., started by their father 50 years ago. Chris splits his work year between Madera, California and Bowman, North Dakota running 20,000 hives. He also manages the business’s almond orchard in Madera.
Mr. Hiatt graduated from Brigham Young University in 1999 with a BA in Horticulture, minor in Business Management. Having served a two-year mission to Chile for the LDS church as a young adult, his fluency in Spanish has proved helpful in his business relations.
When he is not in the bee yard, Chris likes to ride his dirt bike, hike, and also go birding. He has seen close to 600 species of birds within the US and 1,000 in the world. Chris has also served as a leader within his local church and Boy Scouts. Chris and his wife, Heather, have four children: Holly (19), Kadee Jane (17), Ella (13) and Weston (10).
Debbie Seib
Vice President, American Beekeeping Federation
ABF Update | Tuesday, Nov 19, 1:15-1:30 PM
I began keeping bees over 35 years ago. Along with my husband Mike, we are a Mann Lake dealer and host a Newbie Day each May. From 2011 until 2023, I served as the Treasurer for The Beekeepers of Indiana completing the documentation to get our 501(c)(3) status.
I’ve been the American Beekeeping Federation State Delegate chair for the past six years. I served as the ABF SIG leader for the Producers and Packers from 2020 through 2023 and for the past year, I’ve been serving as our Executive Director as we transitioned to a self-managed board.
In 2024, I was elected as the Vice-President and Legislative Chair for the American Beekeeping Federation.
Dr. Elina Nino
Extension Specialist for Apiculture with UC ANR UCCE located in the Department of Entomology and Nematology at UC Davis.
The E. L. Niño Bee Lab: A Decade in Review and What’s Next | Tuesday, Nov 19, 1:30-2:30 PM
Elina L. Niño is an Extension Specialist for Apiculture with UC ANR UCCE located in the Department of Entomology and Nematology at UC Davis. Dr. Niño’s team supports a number of stakeholder groups through educational activities and by offering laboratory and field services. Dr. Niño’s team utilizes basic and applied approaches to understanding and improving honey bee health. Ongoing projects include stock and miticide evaluation, benefits of nutritional supplements such as probiotics and phytochemicals, and evaluating pollination management practices to support honey bee health. To learn more about the research and extension/outreach efforts please visit https://elninobeelab.ucdavis.edu/ , https://cambp.ucdavis.edu/ and https://beehealthhub.ucdavis.edu/
TBD
Project Apis m.
Tuesday, Nov 19, 3:00-3:30 PM
Chris Mayack
Research Associate, USDA ARS Invasive Species and Pollinator Health Research Unit
Honey Bee Health Impacts From Providing Crop Pollination Services In California | Wednesday, Nov 20, 9:00-9:45 AM
Christopher (Chris) Mayack research interests include honey bee behavior, neurobiology, physiology, and studying the impacts of disease and nutrition on honey bee health. He is currently a Research Associate at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) within the Invasive Species and Pollinator Health Research Unit (ISPHRU) that is located in Davis, CA. Prior to this he was an Associate Professor in the Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Bioengineering program at Sabancı University for 5 years located in Istanbul, Turkey and was previously a Visiting Assistant Professor at Swarthmore College for 2 years. He was awarded a two-year Alexander von Humboldt Post-Doctoral Fellowship, which was conducted in Germany, at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. He earned a Ph.D. in Zoology at Colorado State University in 2012 that focused on studying the behavioral and physiological effects of a Nosema ceranae infection where he also conducted disease screening workshops for the Northern Colorado Beekeeper’s Association. He graduated with a Bachelor’s in Science with honors in biology and a minor in chemistry from State University of New York at Geneseo in 2007. He first learned about honey bees and beekeeping when conducting a summer undergraduate research internship on forager bee cognition at the University of Kansas in 2005.
Dr. Thierry Bogaert
Chief Scientific Officer, ApixBiosciences
Micronutrient Needs and Long-Term Impact of Artificial Feed on Honeybee Colonies in Stressful Field Conditions | Wednesday, Nov 20, 9:45-10:30 AM, Presenting with Brandon Hopkins
A newly identified micronutrient enables the development of a pollen-free artificial feed that sustains colonies from May to September without any access to pollen and prevents the collapse of colonies in stressed colonies commercial field conditions.
Dr. Thierry Bogaert, held faculty positions at the MRC-LMB Cambridge (UK) and the University of Ghent (Belgium) in Genetics before founding in 1997 the Biotech company Devgen nv. Under his scientific and commercial leadership Devgen nv became a global, stock listed company crop
protection technology and seeds company that pioneered RNAi crop protection and a new generation of Hybrid Rice seeds. He leads the APIX Biosciences R&D team with the mission of obtaining a fundamental understanding of the nutritional requirements of honeybees and making an pollen-free artificial feed for
honeybees that is “as good as pollen”, industrially scalable and benefits today’s chronically stressed honeybee colonies, beekeepers and growers.
Dr. Brandon Hopkins
Assistant Research Professor, Washington State University
Micronutrient Needs and Long-Term Impact of Artificial Feed on Honeybee Colonies in Stressful Field Conditions | Wednesday, Nov 20, 9:45-10:30 AM, Presenting with Dr. Thierry Bogaert
A newly identified micronutrient enables the development of a pollen-free artificial feed that sustains colonies from May to September without any access to pollen and prevents the collapse of colonies in stressed colonies commercial field conditions.
Dr. Brandon Hopkins is an Assistant Research Professor at Washington State University in the Department of Entomology. Initially working on the development of cryopreservation of honey bee germplasm for breeding and conservation, work that enabled the establishment of the world’s first honey bee germplasm repository at WSU and inclusion of honey bee semen in the USDA National Animal Germplasm Program. Recent research efforts have been focused on developing practical solutions for the beekeeping industry ranging from bee breeding, nutrition and varroa control.
Debbie Gilmore
Nevada State Beekeepers Association
Nevada State Beekeepers Association Update | Wednesday, Nov 20, 11-11:15 AM
Debbie Gilmore is a fourth-generation Nevada beekeeper beginning with her great grandfather, Fletcher Hall, in 1918. Her son, Ryan, is continuing with the family tradition. Hall’s Honey was a commercial honey producer until the 1970’s when the business was sold.
Debbie and her husband, Andy Joyner, are the owners of Hall’s Honey, in Yerington, Nevada. They resurrected Hall’s Honey in 2006 and currently own approximately 80 colonies.
Debbie and Andy started the non-profit Mason Valley Beekeepers in 2008 and now has a membership of over 130 families across Nevada. Monthly meetings, workshops, package distributions, field days and extracting days are held every year. Debbie has been the president of the Mason Valley Beekeepers since its inception and Andy is on the Board of Directors.
Debbie is the President and organizer of the Nevada State Beekeepers Conference held annually in Yerington, Nevada, and supported by the Mason Valley Beekeepers. The 15th annual conference will be held February 20-22, 2025.
Debbie is the Nevada State Delegate for ABF, the State Leader for Hives for Heroes, a past Nevada delegate for the Western Apiculture Society, past member of other local Nevada bee organizations, and has attended many local, state, and national events.
Debbie and Andy are also small lavender producers. Looking for good forage for bees that is drought tolerant, they found that lavender seemed to be the perfect plant. They currently have over 600 plants and propagate plants each year for other beekeepers. Debbie was an original board member for the Sierra Nevada Lavender and Honey Festival held annually in Reno, Nevada, and is an annual vendor. Debbie is the co-founder and member of the Great Basin Lavender Association. Hall’s Honey was a recipient of the Good Food Award in 2017 and 2021 for their lavender honey.
Debbie and Andy and their family welcome California State Beekeepers to their great state of Nevada.
Catherine Crosier
Bee Health Hub
Wednesday, Nov 20, 11:15-11:45 AM
Diana Cox Foster
Research Leader and Entomologist, USDA-ARS Pollinating Insects Research Unit, Logan, Utah
Pollinators Sharing Their Environs – The Roles of Stressors in Bee Health | Wednesday, Nov 20, Research Lunch Keynote Speaker
Diana Cox-Foster is a Research Leader and Entomologist at USDA-ARS Pollinating Insects Research Unit (PIRU) in Logan, Utah. PIRU focuses on biology, management, and systematics of all bee species. Stakeholders include bee keepers, bee managers, growers who use Apis and non-Apis bees for pollination, and land managers of natural ecosystems. PIRU has the U.S. National Pollinating Insect Collection, with research on conservation of bee biodiversity. Cox-Foster examines the impact of pathogens and pesticides on bee health, for honey bees, bumble bees, and solitary bees. Cox-Foster received a B. S. in Entomology and Zoology at Colorado State University and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Entomology at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Cox-Foster gained skills in molecular biology as a post-doc at Vanderbilt University. In 1987, Cox-Foster joined Penn State University as a faculty member and served as a full professor. At PSU, Cox-Foster was one of the initial scientists responding to colony collapse disorder in honey bees and co-director of the CCD working team. She transitioned to USDA-ARS in October 2015.
Becky Masterman
Beekeeping Today Podcast
Defend Beekeeping | Thursday, Nov 21, Member Breakfast Speaker
Rebecca Masterman received a PhD studying hygienic behavior at the University of Minnesota under the direction of Marla Spivak. She writes monthly for Bee Culture Magazine and is the co-host of the Beekeeping Today Podcast. Masterman led the University of Minnesota Bee Squad from 2013–2020 and now supports the MN Extension Apiculture program by editing educational beekeeper materials and as an instructor in the College of Veterinary Medicine student apiary. Active in the Minnesota Honey Producers Association, she is a former board member and currently chairs their Habitat Committee.
Julia Fine
Research Entomologist, USDA-ARS Invasive Species and Pollinator Health Research Unit, Davis, CA
An Update From ARS-Davis: Developing Novel Queen Treatments and Identifying Miticide Targets | Thursday, Nov 21, 10:35-11:15 AM
As an entomologist specializing in honey bee reproductive toxicology and behavior, I’ve studied how environmental conditions affect aspects of honey bee reproduction including queen egg laying, worker queen care behaviors, and worker physiology. Recently, this work has yielded promising findings that may open new lines of research and lead to the development of novel tools and recommendations to aid beekeepers. These findings include identifying a hormone mimic that alters the protein composition of queen ovaries and affects worker offspring behavior in unexpected ways and the characterization of a detoxification pathway in Varroa that can be leveraged to generate novel control agents.
Dr. Frank Rinkevich
Research Entomologist, USDA ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Lab in Baton Rouge
Recent Advances In Understanding Amitraz Resistance Management | Thursday, Nov 21, 11:15 – Noon
Dr. Frank D. Rinkevich is a Research Entomologist at the USDA-ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Laboratory in Baton Rouge LA. Frank has extensive training in insect toxicology, biochemistry, molecular biology, and genetics. The goal of Dr. Frank’s research is to provide a basic understanding of pesticide toxicology that is relevant to field conditions in the commercial beekeeping industry. The major focus of Dr. Rinkevich’s research is amitraz resistance in the honey bee parasite, Varroa destructor. This project determining the prevalence and distribution of amitraz resistance in Varroa destructor, developing an international cooperative network for resistance monitoring with bioassays and genotyping, understanding the amitraz use patterns that lead to amitraz resistance, evaluating management practices to overcome amitraz resistant Varroa, and identifying new miticides.
Other research interests include evaluating the effects of pesticide exposure on colony survivorship in commercial beekeeping operations, assessing metabolic detoxification of insecticides, establishing the effects of fungicides on colony health, and evaluating the performance of honey bee stocks selected for low Varroa populations in commercial beekeeping conditions.
Rowdy Jay Freeman
Deputy Sheriff, Butte County
Hive Theft – The Sting Continues | Thursday, Nov 21, 1:30-2:00 PM
I have been a deputy sheriff in Butte County for approximately 20 years. I’ve been a commercial beekeeper for 10 years and currently run 1,200 hives. In 2012 I realized the seriousness of hive theft and I also learned that no one in the state of California was keeping track of hive theft from year to year and dealing with the issue. Since that time I have worked hard to bring this issue to light and to seek assistance for the industry. I serve as the subject matter expert for the State Apiary Board for CDFA’s Apiary Protection Program, I’m the past president and a member of the California Rural Crime Prevention Task Force, The California State Beekeepers Association, and The California Bee Breeders Association. 2024 is now the year with the most hive thefts in a single year at approximately 3,000 hives! We did have some success in recovering approximately 1,600 stolen hives- Attend the presentation for the update.
Dan Aurell
Auburn University
Preparing for the Tropilaelaps Mite: DNA-based Detection and Promising Management Techniques | Thursday, Nov 21, 2:00-2:45 PM
Dan Aurell is a postdoctoral researcher in Geoff Williams’ lab at Auburn University. His research focuses on managing parasitic mites (Varroa and Tropilaelaps) – the greatest threat to honey bee health – and a tremendous problem for beekeepers. While at Auburn, he has tested practical techniques for Varroa management, and has worked in South Korea and Thailand on Tropilaelaps detection, biology, and management. Dan grew up in Canada, where he started his beekeeping journey by working on a commercial bee farm.
Dr. Josette Lewis
Chief Scientific Officer, Almond Board of California
Almond Industry Update | Thursday, Nov 21, 2:45-3:30 PM
Dr. Lewis oversees research for the Almond Board of California. Prior to joining the Almond Board, she was Associate Vice President at the Environmental Defense Fund, where she focused on ecosystems and sustainable agriculture. She previously served as the Associate Director of the University of California, Davis World Food Center and worked in business development for Arcadia Biosciences. Dr. Lewis spent 16 years with the U.S. Agency for International Development, most recently as Director of the Office of Agriculture, where she played a leadership role in the development of the Administration’s global initiative on food security.
Mel Machado
VP Member Relations, Blue Diamond Growers
Almond Industry Update | Thursday, Nov 21, 2:45-3:30 PM
Mel oversees a team of nine regional managers who serve as direct support to the 3,000 grower-members of the Blue Diamond Grower cooperative.
Mel began his career at Blue Diamond in 1992, in the role of Field Supervisor serving member/growers in northern Stanislaus, and San Joaquin counties. He added the role of Special Projects Coordinator in 2011, taking on additional duties supporting the data management needs of the balance of the Field Staff, and providing management support for the Member Relations Division. In October of 2014 Mel was promoted to Director of Member Relations and joined the Executive Leadership Team. Mel was then promoted to Vice President of Member Relations in October of 2020.
Mel serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Almond Board of California, ABC, and as a member of the ABC’s Strategic Agricultural Innovations Committee. He also serves as a member of the University of California Integrated Pest Management Advisory Council.
Mel holds an Associate of Science degree in Agronomy from Merced College, a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Plant Science, concentrating in Vegetable Production & Plant Protection from California State University-Fresno and a Masters of Arts in Vocational Education from the Consortium of the California State University.
A native of Livingston, California, Mel grew up on a small Grade-B dairy and has worked in agriculture his entire life. Mel’s personal interests focus on flying and photography. He and his wife, Pam live on 19 acres in Oakdale, California, which he planted to almonds in 2019.
