The National Corn Growers Association in partnership with the Honey Bee Health Coalition recently published Corn Best Management Practices for honey bee health. The team who developed the BMPs was comprised of growers as well as beekeepers and businesses that deal with these crops. In 2018, BMPs for soybean growers were developed, also.
BMPs for corn: https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/cornbmps/
For soybeans: https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/soybmps/
The link to the HBHC is https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/ for more information about bees and beekeeping practices.
Locally you can see information about honey bees:
- On the Ohio Department of Agriculture Apiary website: https://agri.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/oda/divisions/plant-health/apiary-program/
- and from OSU’s Bee Lab: https://u.osu.edu/beelab/
Concerned about sensitive crops and honey bees?
The Ohio Sensitive Crop Registry (OSCR) brought to you by FieldWatch (www.fieldwatch.com) allows beekeepers and commercial producers of specialty crops (such as tomatoes, fruit trees, grapes and organic crops) to register and map their sites online with an easy-to-use mapping tool and provide contact information about their operation.
- Pesticide applicators can access the site to help determine the scope and location of specialty crops and beehives in their areas. Registered applicators can sign up to receive email notifications when new specialty crop fields or beehives are added to their designated state, county or areas.
- Pesticide applicators will have different options for viewing locations on the new system but all users (applicators, producers, and beekeepers) will need to go to www.fieldwatch.com and create an account to get started.
- Apiary registration with ODA is mandatory in Ohio, and you need a registration number from ODA in order for a beekeeper to set up an account in FieldWatch.