Brookings, South Dakota, USA
March 17, 2014

Bayer CropScience continued its second annual Bee Care Tour, a mobile tour designed to emphasize the important role bees play, by making its fifth stop at South Dakota State University in Brookings. The Tour aims to facilitate education and collaboration among growers, beekeepers, researchers, master gardeners and government officials to promote best stewardship practices in bee health.

Highlights from the stop included:

• A panel discussion featuring Bob Reiners, South Dakota’s state apiarist; Dr. Amanda Bachmann, consumer horticulture field specialist at South Dakota State University Extension Service; Terry Schultz, president of Mustang Seeds; and Dr. David Graper, executive director of the McCrory Gardens Education and Visitor Center.

• A featured presentation from Mark O’Rourke, SeedGrowth technical service representative, on how honey bees and crop protection can coexist to create a sustainable agriculture.

• A Bee Care Tour exhibit that featured a listening station on the impact Varroa mites have on honey bees, video on Bayer’s Bee Care Program and interactive quizzes and games on keeping bees healthy. The exhibit also included a honey tasting bar with several different flavors of honey; including two types of local honey produced in Brookings.

• A pollinator-inspired breakfast and lunch, including fresh fruit, squash soup shooters with bacon and dried mustard and apple honey and goat cheese crostini.

This week, the Bee Care Tour will travel to Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. (March 20). The Tour will make a final stop in Washington, D.C. to celebrate National Pollinator Week (June 16-23).

For more than 25 years, Bayer has been committed to honey bee health, and continues to provide information on the vital role honey bees play in sustainable agriculture.

You can follow and share with us on Twitter @BayerBeeCare and Facebook at facebook.com/BayerBeeCareCenter. You can learn more about all of our stops at beecaretour.bayer.com.
 

Website: http://www.bayercropscience.us

Published: March 17, 2014