Our Fall Conference will be November 8th & 9th
at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in Syracuse NY

We are finalizing the guest speaker topics, but so far we will have; Frank Rinkevich,
Tammy Horn-Potter, Dr. Medhat Nasr.

We will have many vendors in the hall such as Mann Lake, BetterBee,
Local Hive & Kutik’s Everything Bees.

Don’t forget to bring your honey,beeswax, mead and bee related photos for our contest!
The rules can be found here

We will be having the annual banquet Friday
evening which is in addition to your conference ticket.

One day tickets are $110
& 2 Day tickets are $150

The conference will once again be hosted by Embassy Suites by Hilton at Destiny Mall

Fall Conference Schedule

Friday
8:30 AM Registration table open
9:15-9:30 - Welcome and Opening Remarks by Mark Fiegl, ESHPA President
9:30-10:30 - Tammy Horn Potter : Bees in America
10:30 - 11:30 - Frank Rinkevich : Breeding and Field Performance of Varroa Resistant Honey Bee Stocks
11:30 - 12:30 - Dr. Medhat Nasr : Why Do Introduced Queens Keep Disappearing and Superseding?
12:30 - 1:30 - Lunch
1:30 - 2:30 - Tammy Horn Potter - Women & Bees
2:30 - 3:30 - Annual ESHPA Business Meeting
3:30 - 4pm - Introductions of new board members
6pm - Awards Banquet (You must pre-register) , Live Auction, Beekeeper of the Year Award, Friend of the Industry Award, Roger Morse Honey Show Awards

Saturday
8:30 AM Registration table open
9:15-9:30 - Welcome Back
9:30-10:30 - Tammy Horn Potter : Flower Power
10:30 - 11:30 - Frank Rinkevich - Propolis and it’s effect on Honey Bee Health
11:30 - 12 - Annie Mills, NYS Apiculturist
12pm - 1:00 - Lunch
1:00 - 2:00 - Dr. Medhat Nasr : Alternative Miticides for Varroa Control with Emphasis on Oxalic Acid Vaporization
2:00 - 3:00 - Frank Rinkevich : Amitraz Resistance: The Latest Findings
3:00 - 3:30 - Closing Remarks & Conference Ends

Guest Speaker Profiles

Dr. Medhat Nasr is a highly regarded apiculturist, educator and regulator with over 50 years of experience in both the public and the private sector. In Alberta, he served as Alberta Provincial Apiculturist from 2002-2019. During this period, he extended the regulatory program to include applied bee research and extension activities.

In 1994, he introduced and established the first “Bee Tech-Transfer program” in Ontario. He served as Ontario Beekeepers Tech Transfer program lead from 1994-2000. In fact, this program has been established and continues to provide services to beekeepers in 10 Provinces in Canada. A similar program was established in 5 regions in the USA, but they were suspended in 2023.

Dr. Nasr’s expertise encompasses a wide diverse range of skills including bee pest management, bee breeding, and bee technology development, adoption and transfer.

Dr.Nasr graduated from Cairo University, Giza, Egypt with B. Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Entomology. He earned a Ph. D. degree in Entomology from University of California, Davis, USA.

First Presentation: Why Do Introduced Queens keep Disappearing and Superseding?

In recent years, introduced queens keep disappearing within a few weeks of introduction. There are so many factors could be involved in causing this early supersedure. Some of these factors have been studied that included shipping status, heat, mishandling, bee colony conditions & pesticides. In our study we looked at a simple question, queen quality and mating conditions. This study has shown that sperm counts and queen production quality are main driving causes of early supersedure.  

Second Presentation: Alternative miticides for Varroa control with emphasis on Oxalic acid vaporization.

Amitraz resistance has been reported across the USA and Canada. Our research program for the past 10 years has been working on new miticides to replace amitraz. So far we have found two candidates. We continue our research to develop these two products into commercial products to be registered for use by beekeepers. Meanwhile, we have been working on optimizing the OA vaporization to provide consistent results in mite control. Research results will be shared at the meeting.

Tammy Horn Potter grew up on a farm, but was determined never to do science, agriculture or math when she went to college. An English professor by training, Potter decided to help her grandfather with his bees in 1997 and immediately became smitten with them. Balancing her career as an English professor and hobbyist, Potter wrote Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped a Nation, which was published by University Press of KY in 2005. Potter followed Bees in America with a second book, Beeconomy: What Women and Bees Teach Us About Local Trade and the Global Market in 2012. In order to write it, she went to Hawai’i during off-seasons from 2006-2010 to work in the queen bee production industry. As the 2006 National Endowment of Humanities Chair of Appalachian Studies at Berea College, Potter focused on large scale surface mining reclamation and specifically how it affected pollinators. From 2007-2014, with a generous grant from Ed and Elaine Holcombe, she started Coal Country Beeworks (based at Eastern Kentucky University), which worked with community partners to offer workshops,education, and practical beekeeping skills in Eastern KY. In addition to working with coal companies to get more pollinator habitat included in reclamation, the KY State legislature approved legislation that would let coal companies modify their reclamation with pollinator habitat. Another law was also passed in 2010 that allowed the Dept of Transportation to include more habitat on highway rights-of-way. In 2014, Potter became the Kentucky State Apiarist. Her primary goals as apiarist are to document hive health, promote economic development, and provide education and outreach. To date, she has partnered on a USDA grant to promote pollinator and cerulean habitat in Eastern KY, a USDA-APHIS Honey Bee Health Survey grant, and implemented a Hive Count/Honey Report system for the state. Horn has served as president for Kentucky State Beekeepers Association, president of Eastern Apiculture Society, a director on Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, and been awarded the 2010 North American Pollinator Protection Advocate Award as well as the Kentucky State Beekeeping Association Lifetime Achievement Award and KSBA Beekeeper of the Year.

First Presentation: Flower Power: Establishing Pollinator Habitat

Second Presentation: Women and Bees

Third Presentation: Bees in America: From Colonialism to Climate Change
Since the 17th century, the U.S. has invested heavily in ideas associated with honey bees as well as benefiting from pollination and value-added products such as honey and wax. This talk looks at the changing dynamics of beekeeping as the country defines Industrial Agriculture and potential impacts of these changes for beekeepers in the 21st century. 

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 bio assays 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.

In his research career, Dr. Rinkevich has authored 34 peer-reviewed research articles, acquired more than $10M in competitive grant funding, has provided more than 100 presentations on his research at international scientific meetings and beekeeping conferences. He has produced articles for domestic and international beekeeping publications, participates in beekeeping podcasts, and had some research featured in National Geographic. He acts as a subject matter expert on resistance monitoring and management with government agencies, non-profit entities, book authors, and agricultural consultants. In his spare time, Frank enjoys cooking over wood fires, vegetable gardening, hunting, fishing, hiking, traveling the world.

First Presentation: Amitraz Resistance: The Latest Findings

Amitraz resistance in Varroa is a significant challenge for beekeepers. The past 5 years of research has shown increasing levels and prevalence of Amitraz resistance. This talk will focus on our recent findings from this year about the genetics of resistance and ways we can use lab tests to diagnose Amitraz resistance, using genetic markers and assessments of Varroa reproduction to determine if Amitraz resistance has a fitness cost, and the latest information on alternative treatments and beekeeping strategies to control Amitraz resistant Varroa.

Second Presentation: Breeding and Field performance of Varroa Resistant Honey Bee Stocks

Varroa infestation is the most significant reason that honey bee colonies perform poorly or die off. Miticides are the most commonly employed Varroa management tool, but recent development of resistance impairs the efficacy of miticide treatments. Breeding bees for behaviors that reduce Varroa populations have been an ongoing project for nearly 30 years at the USDA Honey Bee Lab in Baton Rouge. The ability of these Varroa resistant bees to keep Varroa populations low in commercial beekeeping operations has been tested and validated and results clearly show lower Varroa levels and enhanced colony survivorship.However, despite these demonstrated benefits, the adoption of resistant stock is very low. This talk will discuss how we will reduce barriers to adoption and our future plans to work with queen producers and breeders to make validated resistant stock more available to commercial beekeepers.

Third Presentation: Propolis and it’s effect on Honey Bee Health

Welcome to The Empire State Honey Producers Association, Inc.
Or for short, ESHPA.

ESHPA open to all beekeepers in NYS, from the hobbyist with one hive, to the commercial migratory beekeeper with thousands. This is made clear in the preamble of the bylaws:

To promote and protect the interests of New York State beekeepers, and

To form an association for mutual benefit of New York State honey producers; to promote and assist in efforts to preserve and protect the honey bee; to assist New York State honey producers in promoting, marketing and publicizing honey and hive products and educate the public to the value of honey bee pollination; to aid in presenting a uniform point of view on concerns of New York State honey producers to state and federal agencies and the general public.

To procure uniformity and certainty in customs and usages of trade and commerce, and of those having a common trade, business, financial or professional interest; to promote a more enlarged and friendly intercourse among beekeepers.

ESHPA was originally founded in 1870 as the “New York State Bee-Keepers Association”, with dues of $1 (considered too high by many potential members). Ladies interested in beekeeping could join with just a signature.

Today ESHPA is a 501(c) (5) Federal Tax exempt corporation with a governing board elected by the general membership. Full bylaws are available at ESHPA.org . Regional “North-Eastern” “Southern” “Western” and “Long Island” directors are elected to three-year terms. Officers are elected to two year terms.

The majority of ESHPA members have less than 50 hives according to a voluntary online survey conducted in 2012.

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