Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that bee colonies are collapsing around the world due to a number of persistent threats such as global warming, pesticides and yes, murder hornets.

And while that may present a challenge to the $7 billion honey industry, the focus on honey production is itself problematic for the broader bee ecosystem, since farmed honeybees compete with wild bees for food and ultimately can hurt biodiversity.

All of which is why a Serbian bee industry executive by the name of Darko Mandich became fascinated with the idea of making honey without the bees. If this sounds crazy to you, don’t worry: Darko’s soon-to-be cofounder, Aaron Schaller, initially thought it was crazy too when they first discussed the idea.

But eventually, Schaller (a molecular scientist from the University of Cal Berkeley) saw the potential in bee-less honey and soon after, MeliBio was born. From there, the nascent startup pitched their concept to Big Idea Ventures and was accepted into the future food accelerator.

Now the company is busy developing its technology to create a honey that replicates the taste, texture and mouthful of real honey, all without bees. As Darko tells me on this podcast, MeliBio is using fermentation to essentially recreate the process through which bees convert nectar to honey. The startup hopes to have its first product on the market by late 2021.

You can listen to the full conversation with Darko Mandich by subscribing to the Food Tech Show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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By: Katy Askew

With European honey harvests down 40% in 2020, Copa and Cogeca warns ‘the survival of professional beekeepers is really threatened’ and calls on European regulators to increase controls on cheaper imports that, they say, are a food fraud risk.

HTTPS://WWW.FOODNAVIGATOR.COM/ARTICLE/2020/11/09/HONEY-PRODUCERS-STUNG-BY-WORST-HARVEST-IN-DECADES-CALL-FOR-CRACKDOWN-ON-ADULTERATED-IMPORTS 

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Cody Copeland

Beekeepers work in maintenance and extraction of honey from hives on August 10, 2019 in Girona, Spain. Manuel Medir/Getty Images

• Honey is the third-most-faked food in the world, behind milk and olive oil, according to compliance management company Decernis.
• Fake honey is bad for beekeepers, and also means that bees spend more time pollinating, which wears them out.
• “Honey launderers” fool authenticity tests by making chemical modifications, making it hard to trace where the honey came from.
• The testing has gotten better than the 2013 “Honeygate” scandal where the Justice Department went after honey launderers.
• But the industry still doesn’t always use sophisticated tests that can see through chemical modifications, and consumers have to rely on toothless government regulators.

In February 2013, the Justice Department charged two major honey importers in “Operation Honeygate.”

The importers — Honey Solutions and Groeb Farms — shipped fake or adulterated Chinese honey through other countries in Asia and Europe before sending them to the US.

The honey-laundering scheme, which helped the companies avoid $180 million in shipping duties, hid the honey’s true origin, leaving few to suspect that it wasn’t real.

It was the biggest incident of food fraud in US history.

More than seven years later, a lot of our honey is still fake.

According to the Food Fraud Database maintained by the compliance management company Decernis, it’s the third-most-faked food behind milk and olive oil.

There’s no reason to think that fake or adulterated honey is a threat to public health, but it’s still a problem.

The manufacturers either dilute real honey with syrup derived from plants, like high-fructose corn syrup or beet syrup. Or they can chemically modify the sugars in those syrups to make them look like real honey.

Undercut by prices that can dip below half their operating costs, honey producers bear the economic brunt.

“Adulterated or fake honey depresses the price for real honey, making honey production unprofitable,” Kelvin Adee, president of the American Honey Producers Association, told Insider. “Beekeepers have to turn to other sources of income such as packing and retailing honey themselves, raising queens/hives for sale or pollination services. Honey production by itself is not a sustainable option.”

Fake honey is bad for beekeepers and bad for bees

The exact amount of fake honey in the world is up for debate. An analysis by the Honey Authenticity Project, an association of activists and industry members, places the number of fake or adulterated honey at 33%. A 2018 study of honey for sale in Australia found that 27% of the products tested were faked or had other ingredients mixed in.

US-specific numbers are harder to come by, but one lawyer, who’s behind several class-action lawsuits accusing honey brands of fraud, puts the figure as high as 70%.

View of special cups where queen bees are raised to be later introduced into hives, making them more productive, in Esteli, Nicaragua, on December 21, 2019. INTI OCON/AFP via Getty Images

Earlier this year, Vice tested honey brands in several US grocery stores and found that many of them were adulterated. But the threat extends beyond those little golden bears lining the supermarket shelves, Adee said.

Honey plays a huge role in the American diet, with about 400 million pounds of it ending up in our food every year, much of it in processed foods like cereal.

Beekeepers in the United Kingdom have been hit particularly hard. The UK received 47% of Europe’s honey imports from China in 2018, but a Honey Authenticity Project lab analysis of 11 supermarket brands found that none complied with EU labeling standards.

Adulterated honey also ultimately drives honey prices down, beekeepers say. Some beekeepers find it’s more worthwhile to have their bees focus on pollination rather than honey production. It’s a vicious cycle that leads to less authentic honey in the market.

“When the cost of production is around $2, it’s really tough to compete against prices that are well under a dollar,” Adee told Insider.

“There are beekeepers who have decided to call it quits and leave the industry,” he added.

And it’s bad for bees, too: With pollination, bees travel more, putting hives at risk of exposure to new diseases.

How ‘honey laundering’ works

“Honey laundering” became widespread when Chinese laboratories began modifying high-fructose corn syrups to make them look like pure honey.

The sugars in these syrups — known as C4 sugars — became popular for honey counterfeiters in the 1970s, with the invention of high-fructose corn syrup, according to Richard Anderson, director of Siratech, a private lab in Texas that detects fake and adulterated honey.

But they were soon easily detected in tests, so honey counterfeiters modified their methods to use syrups developed from plants with C3 sugars, like rice, beets, or cassava.

“[Regulators] started looking for it and catching people, so they shifted over to other types of syrups,” Anderson said.

Paul Schweitzer, head of the French beekeeping study center in Moselle (CETAM) and a pollen specialist, holds honey jars, on May 17, 2013 in Guenange, eastern France. Fake labels, traffic of the country-of-origin, addition of sugar syrup. JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN/AFP via Getty Images

The adulterated syrups can be used to dilute a smaller batch of real honey. They can also be fed directly to bees, replacing flower nectar, Anderson told Insider.

Earlier honey authentication tests analyzed the pollen inside honey and traced them back to their source. But some honey launderers have gotten smart, treating honey so that it’s difficult to trace. Anderson’s lab runs SIRA tests, which are sophisticated enough to catch the large majority of attempts to falsify honey.

“They either buy pollens or blend custom made syrups with honey that already has pollen in it,” Adee said. “It seems like every time there’s a new test that comes out, it’s not long that they’ll find a way that they can beat it.”

To read the complete article go to; https://www.insider.com/fake-honey-problems-how-it-works-2020-9

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USDA Accepting Applications to Help Cover Costs for Organic Certification

WASHINGTON, August 10, 2020 – USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced that organic producers and handlers can apply for federal funds to assist with the cost of receiving and maintaining organic certification through the Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP). Applications for eligible certification expenses paid between Oct. 1, 2019, and Sept. 30, 2020, are due Oct. 31, 2020.

“For producers producing food with organic certification, this program helps cover a portion of those certification costs,” FSA Administrator Richard Fordyce said. “Contact your local FSA county office to learn more about this program and other valuable USDA resources, like farm loans and conservation assistance, that can help you succeed.”

OCCSP provides cost-share assistance to producers and handlers of agricultural products for the costs of obtaining or maintaining organic certification under the USDA’s National Organic Program. Eligible producers include any certified producers or handlers who have paid organic certification fees to a USDA-accredited certifying agent. Eligible expenses for cost-share reimbursement include application fees, inspection costs, fees related to equivalency agreement and arrangement requirements, travel expenses for inspectors, user fees, sales assessments and postage.

Changes in Reimbursement
Due to expected participation levels and the limited funds available, FSA revised the reimbursement amount available through fiscal year 2023. Certified producers and handlers are now eligible to receive reimbursement for up to 50 percent of the certified organic operation’s eligible expenses, up to a maximum of $500 per scope.

This change is will allow a larger number of certified organic operations to receive assistance. If Congress authorizes additional funding, FSA may provide additional assistance to certified operations that have applied for OCCSP, not to exceed 75 percent of their eligible costs, up to $750 per scope.

The changes to the payment calculation and maximum payment amount are applicable to all certified organic operations, regardless of whether they apply through an FSA county office or a participating state agency. State agencies that are interested in overseeing reimbursements to producers and handlers in their states must establish new agreements with FSA for fiscal 2020.

Opportunities for State Agencies
Today’s announcement also includes the opportunity for state agencies to apply for grant agreements to administer the OCCSP program in fiscal 2020. State agencies that establish agreements may be able to extend their agreements and receive additional funds to administer the program in future years.

FSA has not yet determined whether an additional application period will be announced for state agencies that choose not to participate in fiscal 2020. States that would like to administer OCCSP for multiple years are encouraged to establish an agreement for fiscal 2020.

FSA will accept applications from state agencies from Aug. 10, 2020 through Sept. 9, 2020.
State Agencies must submit the Application for Federal Assistance (Standard Form 424 and 424B) electronically via Grants.gov, the Federal grants website, at http://www.grants.gov.

More Information
To learn more about organic certification cost share, please visit the OCCSP webpage, view the notice of funds availability on the Federal Register, or contact the FSA county office at your local USDA Service Center. All USDA Service Centers are open for business, including some that are open to visitors to conduct business in person by appointment only. All Service Center visitors wishing to conduct business with FSA, Natural Resources Conservation Service or any other Service Center agency should call ahead and schedule an appointment. Service Centers that are open for appointments will pre-screen visitors based on health concerns or recent travel, and visitors must adhere to social distancing guidelines. Visitors may also be required to wear a face covering during their appointment.

To learn more about USDA support for organic agriculture, visit usda.gov/organic.

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The Bayer Blue Ribbon Beekeeper Award, sponsored by the North American Bayer Bee Care Program, recognizes the next generation of beekeepers (12-18 years old) and their efforts to give back to their communities through activities that support honey bee and pollinator health. These outstanding individuals have created unique projects on their own or with their local communities to promote and protect bee health for years to come.

This year, applications will open in June during National Pollinator Week.

In the meantime, read on to learn six reasons why you should apply for the 2020 Blue Ribbon Beekeeper Award (or encourage a bright young beekeeper in your community to apply):

1. You’re passionate about pollinators.

The Blue Ribbon Beekeeper Award originated in 2019 as a continuation of the Bayer North America Bee Care Program’s Young Beekeeper Award, following several years of Bayer’s recognition of leaders in pollinator health.

If you’re the one in your group of friends who is passionate about the future of our food and our fuzzy friends, then this award may be just for you!

2. You can win some serious dough for school or to further your projects.

Each entrant has a chance to earn a $3,000 (1st), $2,000 (2nd) or $1,000 (3rd) prize, which can be used towards their beekeeping project or to continue their education, such as applying toward college tuition.

3. You can spread the word about your pollinator program.

The first-place winner of the 2018 Young Beekeeper Award, Leo Schirokauer, was one of more than 50 young applicants leading the way for the next generation to inspire others within the beekeeping and pollinator space. With support from Bayer, Leo used his prize money to help spur his research to investigate a cure for the devastating honey bee disease American Foulbrood (AFB). AFB is an incurable disease that kills a hive’s larvae, ultimately killing the hive itself. The availability of a treatment for AFB would not only allow beekeepers to save infected hives but would also alleviate the growing danger of a larger scale outbreak of the disease.

After winning the award, Leo has continued honey bee health research. In 2019, he traveled to Denali National Park in Alaska for two weeks to work on a native pollinator inventory project.

“I’m really excited about the potential implications my research could have on the beekeeping industry and on pollinator health overall,” said Leo.

You can read more about past Young Beekeeper Award applicants recognized as 2019 Blue Ribbon Beekeepers here.

4. If you’re between the ages of 12 and 18 and already working with pollinators, you’re eligible!

Anyone between 12 and 18 years old can apply for the Blue Ribbon Beekeeper Award. Applicants must be actively participating in the beekeeping or pollinator health space. This can be in the form of a school or community project; hive management as a hobby or family business; or research into the factors affecting pollinator health.

In other words, we want to know what you’re doing to support honey bees and other pollinators in your community!

5. Applying is quick and easy!

This year, applications will open on June 22, 2020 during National Pollinator Week, and entrants can apply online by August 21, 2020. To submit your application or learn more about the award, visit the portal here.

6. Your work will be seen by leaders in beekeeping and pollinator health.

This year’s panel of Blue Ribbon Beekeeper Award judges will consist of industry leaders in the beekeeping and pollinator health community. Judges will be announced soon.

Our Blue Ribbon Beekeeper Award winners will be announced in September during National Honey Month.
Good luck to all of you!

To get an application go to;
https://beehealth.bayer.us/what-is-bayer-doing/bayer-bee-care-young-beekeeper-award/young-beekeeper-award

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Bees are a key player in the human food ecosystem. Depending on which numbers you believe, bees pollinate anywhere from a third to over half of all the food we eat. Most people don’t realize that without bees, there’s no food- conventional, organic or otherwise. We need bees more than ever and yet, we employ destructive agriculture practices that harm them including our excessive pesticide use. But it’s more than that.

The average person is aware that vegans don’t consume any product with animal meat, dairy or eggs, though when it comes to the sweet, viscous byproduct of bees – aka honey – many are left puzzled. Why isn’t honey considered vegan? And more importantly, what’s wrong with consuming honey, especially if we need to save the bees?

For many of us, bees evoke nature – a field of flowers, an oozing honeycomb, a warm summer’s day. The truth about commercial beekeeping is unfortunately much darker, and unlike slaughterhouses, the ethical and environmental issues of this exploitative industry haven’t hit mainstream awareness yet. Below we delve into the whole bee truth and nothing but.

What is honey?
Some of the commonly Googled questions include “is honey bee vomit” and “is honey bee poop?”, and the answer to both those questions is no. So first of all, we need to take a look into what honey really is by breaking down how it is made.

Honey bees live in colonies called hives, and they fly away from their hives to forage for pollen, propolis and nectar. The nectar is what is used to make honey, and is extracted from various flowers using the bee’s tongue and is stored in its crop – the “honey stomach”. Bees actually have not one, but two stomachs – one for eating, and another for honey. When its honey stomach is completely full, bees can almost double its weight.

When honey bees fly back to the hive, they begin to secrete enzymes that help to change the acidity and composition of the nectar to make it suitable to keep a long time. Upon its return, the forager bee will regurgitate what’s in its crop, and pass it onto a house bee. This process is called trophallaxis.

House bees then process the nectar internally, chewing it and adding more enzymes into it, which breaks down the complex sugars into simple sugars. After this, it is placed into the cells of beeswax. Over time, bees will dehumidify the nectar by fanning it with their wings, taking the moisture away from the nectar, creating the syrupy and gooey honey that we know.

Why is it not vegan?
Remember that veganism is a lifestyle that seeks to exclude, as much and as far as possible, all kinds of animal and animal-derived foods, clothing or any other product. Vegans also do not believe in exploiting animals for human purposes. While many people know that bees produce honey, it may still be unclear what exact mechanisms involved in producing honey – especially in industrial manufacturing – is not vegan-friendly.

Derived from bees
Firstly, as we discussed in the above section, honey requires bees – a living creature – to make in a process called trophallaxis. Without the enzymes that bees release into the nectar that is sloshed around in their bodies, there wouldn’t be any honey. It is a by-product of bees, and therefore unsuitable for vegans, who exclude all products that are animal or animal-derived.

Source: Getty Images

Honey is survival food for bees
There is a common misconception that honey bees make honey for us. It couldn’t be further from the truth – bees store pollen and honey during their active summer months because it is what they survive on in the winter period when conditions are not suitable for bees to find any flowers to forage from. Simply put, honey is survival food for bees.

Over one year, the average colony of bees consume between 120 to 200 pounds of the honey they make and store in their capped cells.

To read the full article go to:
https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/world-bee-day-why-vegans-avoid-honey-other-important-facts-about-natures-pollinators/

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FREE….. Because of the significant change in our lives as a result of COVID-19, many of us are working from home as we ‘social distance’ and quarantine ourselves. The USPS is doing the Best that they can, but mail is being delayed because of this disruption they are experiencing as well. This means, as we have heard from many of you, that your hard copy of Bee Culture is not showing up as in the past. We have a Digital version of Bee Culture. We are making this available to you at NO COST until this situation is over. This is how you can access it and read it for FREE online. Go to www.beeculture.com and click on the “Latest Issues” tap at the top of the page.

We thank each of you as we all go through this together. Hang in there.

The Bee Culture Team

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US grocers are freshening up their produce sections to draw in more health-conscious shoppers, as fruits and vegetables are an increasingly important source of sales growth for US food retailers. They now are eager to capitalize on rising consumer demand for fresh food. Grocers are expanding produce sections, stocking them with new and exotic varieties, and adding such services as juice bars and pre-cut fruit and vegetable packs.

Produce sales in the US rose to $62 billion this year from $60.8 billion in 2018, according to research firm Nielsen. Those sales are a bright spot for an industry facing myriad challenges. Heavy investment in delivery is straining an already-low-margin business model. Cereal, canned soup and other packaged products that historically drove profits are fading out of popularity, forcing grocers to find new ways to attract customers.

“Produce is what creates the trust between customers and neighboring retailers,” said Suzy Monford, vice president of fresh merchandising at Kroger Co. Kroger’s organic-produce business reached $1 billion in sales last year, making the supermarket chain one of the largest organic-food sellers in the country. The Cincinnati-based grocer is offering more seasonal products such as Cosmic Crisp apples, which made their debut this fall. Kroger is also working with start-ups on plans to grow herbs at its stores and make produce last longer.

Walmart Inc. is widening aisles and installing bins to have its produce sections look like farmers markets. An organic grocer, Sprouts Farmers Market Inc., is carrying more specialty items such as Cotton Candy Grapes.

Produce challenges for retailers
Produce presents challenges for retailers. Cold-storage trucks and storage facilities are expensive and complicated to operate. Produce is easily bruised in transit, leading to higher loss rates than for other products.

Still, retailers that are expanding their produce offerings.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency (USDA RMA) are reminding Florida pasture, rangeland, and forage (PRF) and apiculture producers that deadlines to apply for crop insurance coverage for the 2020 crop year is November 15.

Current policyholders who wish to make changes to their existing coverage also have until the sales closing dates to do so.
“The risk of crop damage in Florida is of increasing concern, due in part to extreme weather and intensifying storms,” said Agriculture Commissioner Nicole “Nikki” Fried. “We encourage producers to stay informed, check their current coverage status, and apply for new crop insurance before the deadlines to ensure that their livelihoods aren’t jeopardized by unpredictable disasters.”

Federal crop insurance is critical to the farm safety net. It helps producers and owners manage revenue risks and strengthens the rural economy.

Growers are encouraged to visit their crop insurance agent soon to learn specific details for the 2020 crop year. A list of crop insurance agents is available at all USDA Service Centers and online at the RMA Agent Locator. Growers can use the RMA Cost Estimator to get a premium amount estimate of their insurance needs online.

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P.S. Have you seen our newest column in Bee Culture? It’s called ALL AROUND THE BEEYARD. Simply put, it’s a page of good ideas sent in by readers to make life in bees faster, simpler, easier, cheaper and better. Good ideas home grown and shared by those who saw a good idea. If you have a good idea you’d like to share, give us a paragraph or two on what it is, and a drawing or photo of what it looks like if that is needed to better share the idea. Send it in an email to Jerry@beeculture.com, with All Around in the subject line. Best of the month wins $100.00. The others get a free 1 year subscription. How cool is that?

Inverted pouch launch brings no-mess convenience to the honey category. By Rick Lingle in Pouches

A category-first application of the inverted pouch aims to have retail and ecommerce consumers abuzz about the no-mess convenience of Chico Honey’s new packaging.

For example, consider the inverted pouch. Starting in 2015 with Daisy brand sour cream, the topsy-turvy revision of the universally popular stand-up pouch continues to gain traction with brands across a widening swath of packaged foods from barbecue sauce to yogurt.

The reason that the format has proven such a winner is that pouch inversion enhances convenience, reduces waste and can prolong the shelf life of sensitive products as the pack headspace is reduced in use. And it provides on-shelf distinction.

The latest category to embrace the functional benefits of this consumer-friendly format is honey, starting with the U.S. introduction of a 20-ounce inverted pouch from Chico Honey Co., Orland, CA, this summer.

This breakthrough in the category also marks the brand’s entry into flexible packaging.

“We wanted to bring a product design to market that was mess-free and user friendly,” explains Mike Watson, the company’s sales and brand manager. “Honey can be a sticky sweet treat, so having it mess-free makes life easier. We considered having the product packed in smaller sachet pouches until we fell in love with the idea of the StandCap pouch.”

StandCap premade inverted pouches are from supplier Glenroy. Ken Brunnbauer, Glenroy marketing manager, informs Packaging Digest that “this pouch was engineered with a reverse-printed, clear high-oxygen-barrier lamination. That allows for a viewing window to the product while providing the necessary protection to extend shelf life and maintain product integrity. Additional components in the lamination boost puncture-resistance and aid in squeeze performance.”

The pouch features the Sierra Closure from the AptarGroup that was developed specifically for this market. The twist-on/off hinged polypropylene dispensing closure provides the pouch with an easy-to-open flip-top closure that doubles as a wide base for inverted stability. It’s threaded to a tamper-evident, polyethylene pull-ring fitment sealed to the pouch that boasts Aptar’s SimpliSqueeze proprietary valve technology for optimal, clean-cut-off dispensing.

According to Watson, the key benefits of the inverted pouch are…

• There’s no need for utensils;
• Almost 100% of the honey can be enjoyed by the consumer without wasting product;
• The honey stays fresher longer.

The company also likes its universal appeal.

“The beauty of the StandCap Pouch design is that it allows us to market to every consumer age group and demographic,” he says. “It’s an easy-to-use application for children, parents and grandparents. Our honey container’s added convenience allows for quick grab-and-go access for a person on the move.”

The design of the 20-oz pouch mimics the company’s 30-oz and 25-oz glass jars that are printed with a floral pattern, Watson notes. The pouch graphics were created in-house by Chico Honey’s design and marketing team to showcase the floral design of the honeybees foraging source and call out the OHB “Olivarez Honey Bees Inc.” within the logo of Chico Honey Co.

Chico Honey chose a black cap that corresponds to the brand-specific color that matches the clover or wildflower illustration printed on the pouches.

As with numerous brands’ launches over the years, plans quickly solidified at a Pack Expo like chilled honey.

“After an earlier discussion with Glenroy, we were invited to the Pack Expo Chicago in October 2018,” recalls Watson. “Our relationship between the companies blossomed from there, and Glenroy has been an amazing company to work with.”

The time from initial idea to having packaged product in-hand took eight months, according to Watson.

The pouched honey retails for $14.99 in two “pure and raw” varieties, California wildflower blend honey and clover honey. For comparison, the company’s previous glass-packed stock-keeping units (SKU) sizes with retail pricing are: 12-oz ($9.99), 16-oz ($14.99), 25-oz whisky style jar ($22.99) and 30-oz jar ($17.99).

Even ten years after its initial beta release Minecraft continues to evolve at an increasingly rapid pace in its quest to develop a natural world teeming with life. The latest addition to Minecraft recently has been the arrival of, you guessed it, bees! In this guide, we’ll go over every absurd detail and tell you when you can expect to see bees buzzing around in your own Minecraft worlds when it launches for free later in 201The legend incarnate

While Minecraft Earth hasn’t quite landed on our smartphones yet, Minecraft is and has been available to anyone. If you’ve been wondering what all of the fuss is about (spoiler: the game deserves the praise), then Minecraft is available on almost every platform imaginable.

• $20 at Microsoft

What are Minecraft bees?

Bees are a neutral mob (i.e., they’ll only attack the player if they’re provoked) that spawn naturally in bee nests that attach themselves to oak or birch trees. They’re a fan of flowers so they have a higher chance of spawning in places that have a lot of flowers and the specific trees that they enjoy. This include Plains Biomes, areas with sunflowers, and forests that have an abundance of naturally occurring flowers.

They have a relatively low chance of spawning on a tree, and only do so when the world is initially created, so there won’t be a nest on every single tree. This, combined with the various things that bees can do, makes them a valuable commodity to look out for.

How to Minecraft bees behave?

Exhibiting their own unique behaviors and abilities, bees introduce a new suite of mechanics to Minecraft’s already-abundant ecosystems. This means that there a few things to look out for whenever you’re interacting with bees, and things you should or shouldn’t do.

The bees present in Minecraft will have three distinct “forms,” so to speak, that drastically alter how they behave around the player. This is when the bees are either neutral, carrying pollen, or provoked.

• A neutral bee will migrate back and forth between their nest or hive while they search for flowers. They stay within their nest or hive for several minutes, cycle out into the world for a few minutes, then repeat the cycle indefinitely. While bees are flying around, they will not attack the player and are otherwise harmless unless provoked.
• Bees can pollinate flowers. If the bee finds a suitable flower, it will circle the flower for a while before it picks up pollen. Whenever a neutral bee has collected pollen, its looks will change and it will start dropping off pollen particles while it flies around. During this time, the bee has the chance to pollinate any plants or crops that it flies over. It essentially acts like portable bone meal, in that any time a pollen particle that the bee emits comes in contact with a still-growing plant, that plant will move forward one stage of growth.
• Bees can turn aggressive, however. While bees are normally quite friendly, they will not hesitate to attack the player if certain lines are crossed. Whenever a beehive or nest is provoked, every bee in the area will gain red eyes and immediately attempt to swarm the player. Bees become provoked when one of three things happen: the player attacks or injures a member of the nest/hive; the nest/hive is destroyed completely by the player; or the player harvests honey from the nest/hive.
• You can use campfire smoke to stop bees turning aggressive. If an active campfire is placed directly underneath the bees’ nest or hive, the player can safely harvest any honey or honeycombs that they desire.
• You don’t get anything if you kill a bee.
• A single angry bee by itself poses little threat, but three or four bees attacking in a unified swarm can cause a flurry of damage. A single bee only does 1-2 hearts of damage depending on the game’s difficulty level, but a bee also has poison. If the player is stung by a bee, its poison can do 3-4 hearts of damage sustained over time.
• Much like the real world, bees in Minecraft will lose their stinger after a single attack, and subsequently die approximately one minute later. While this means that a bee has limited potential to harm the player, it does mean that a single provocation can lead to every bee in the area inadvertently dying.Minecraft bees are surprisingly varied in their behavior, and could get even more complex as we head towards launch before the 2019 holiday season.

Minecraft beehives and how to craft them

Because of the scarcity of naturally occurring bees in Minecraft, you’ll be able to create your own nests with the addition of a brand new craftable block: beehives. Keep in mind, crafting beehives still require an original source of bees, but once you have a small group you can breed your own bees into a bustling society. Even better, building your own beehive is incredibly easy as long as you can find a bee nest somewhere in your Minecraft game.

1. To begin, the player must first collect three bits of honeycomb.
2. This can be done by waiting for a bee nest to become full of honey (something that becomes immediately obvious by its appearance).
3. Next, use a pair of shears on the bee nest to remove the honeycomb.

Note: For this part, it’s important to have a campfire placed below or near the bee nest to prevent the bees from attacking.

4. You combine this honeycomb with six blocks of wooden planks of any kind, and voila! You have a beehive.

Beehives are placeable almost anywhere in the overworld and can store up to three bees. There’s no real limit to the number of hives you can create. Otherwise beehives behave exactly like bee nests, other than a different appearance.

How to breed Minecraft bees

Where do the bees come from? Well as usual Mojang has been thorough, and they’re also introducing a variety of ways to either breed your own bees or lead new ones to the home of your choice.

1. All you have to do to breed two bees is feed each one a flower.
2. In a similar fashion to breeding other animals, giving a flower to a bee will have it enter love mode.
3. If another bee in love mode happens to be nearby, a baby bee will pop into existence.

Bees can’t breed indefinitely in rapid succession. Every time a bee breeds, it requires five or so minutes in order to “recover,” so to speak, before it’s ready to breed again. Beyond that, a baby bee takes about two full in-game days to grow into an adult. The player can hasten this process by feeding the baby bee flowers. Using this process, the player only has to procure two original bees in order to have an infinite supply.Bees will follow the player if the player is holding a flower in their hand, so the player can shepherd multiple bees away from their nest and force them to accept their beehive as their new home. Alternatively, using a lead is another way of collecting a few bees.

The final method takes advantages of a bee nest or beehive’s inherent limitation. A maximum of three bees can live in any one nest/hive, and if the population of the bees there were to expand beyond three, the extra bees would need to find a new home. Bees have a surprisingly large radius in which they’ll search for a new home, meaning the player can introduce bees to your artificial hives by simply growing the population beyond what the original nest can support.

On the other hand, this also means that if the original nest is destroyed, every bee inside will immediately begin searching for a new home. For this particular method to work, it’s doubly important to have a campfire handy to subdue the bees before destroying their nest.

Minecraft bee farming, pollination, and how to force it

One of the most useful things bees will do for the player in Minecraft is accelerating the growth of food and other plants. Those of you who enjoy farming in Minecraft will be far more efficient just by having a few bee nests/hives around the place. There’s a few ways you can ensure bees do their jobs.

1. The first step is having multiple colonies of bees. If you have a lot of crops that could benefit from their presence. With three bees to a nest/hive, you can rather quickly guarantee a constant stream of pollen.
2. It’s also important to have a large number of flowers nearby. Bees drop pollen and fertilize crops as they’re travelling between flowers and their hive home.
3. The best strategy is to place the bee nests/hives and the flowers on opposite ends of your crops, that way the bees are forced to fly directly over them.
4. Finally, you can trap your bees inside a glass dome or house with your crops to limit their mobility.

Minecraft honey blocks and other bee items

Along with bees and all the in-depth mechanics that accompany them are also an assortment of tasty items and blocks as well. The first and easiest item to acquire is honey.

• Honey can be collected from a bee nest or hive that is full of honey. All the player has to do is approach the nest/hive with a glass bottle and they can collect honey straight from the source. From what I can tell, honey is essentially a substitute for sugar in the game’s crafting system and may have other applications as well.
• The second item is honeycombs. Honeycombs also require the nest/hive in question to be full of honey, but instead requires a pair of shears rather than a bottle. Honeycombs can be used to craft beehives, and may also have something to do with crafting the latest block in Minecraft: honey blocks.

Honey blocks are a new block announced at Minecon 2019 that has a host of unique mechanics that should make for a new bout of creativity.Honey blocks are sticky, so players can neither jump nor run while they’re standing on top of them.

• Additionally, honey blocks can also be climbed like vines or ladders, making them a good alternative when space is constrained.
• Finally, honey blocks are fully compatible with pistons, meaning there’s a ton of potential for puzzles and traps revolving around their stickiness.

Honey blocks may very well have other attributes beyond this, which we’ll soon find out when players get their paws on them. It’s not certain quite yet how to craft honey blocks, but you can be fairly certain it will have something to do with bees and the items you can collect from their nests/hives. Whatever the method, this is yet another reason to encourage players to build a labyrinth of bees surrounding their Minecraft homes.

When will Minecraft bees launch?
While the exact date hasn’t been released, Mojang said that bees will arrive before the 2019 holiday season. All this means for us is that a brand new bout of Minecraft will be part of this

The new dried honey contains 80 percent natural honey, 30 percent more than current alternatives.

Scientists from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) have come up with a new method to produce dried honey, which can be used on a large scale in nutrition and cosmetics.

The product contains 80 percent natural honey, unlike the ones available on the market which contain only 50 percent, making it healthier and widening its array of uses.

The new technique pioneered by the team of researchers from the Department of Food Engineering and Process Management: Professor Katarzyna Samborska, Doctor Aleksandra Jedlińska, Doctor Artur Wiktor and Professsor Dorota Witrowa-Rajchert, overcomes the challenges involved in making dried honey.

“The drying of honey is mainly made hard by the high content of simple sugars,” says Professor Samborska.Katarzyna Samborska

“The drying of honey is mainly made hard by the high content of simple sugars and the fact that they have a low so-called glass transition temperature,” said Professor Samborska. “It is the temperature at which the transition from liquid or plastic to glass occurs.”

During the process, a dehydrated syrup is formed instead of powder. The drying temperature must be lowered to allow the form to change into a powder.

“We did it with the use of dried air during spray drying, thanks to which the temperature of the material during drying was reduced from 80 to 50 ° C,” she added.

There is a growing demand for dried honey from the food industry and consumers.Kalbar/TFN

The innovative product doesn’t contain maltodextrin, which is used in the dried honey now on the market. It’s an additive with a high glycemic index. In the improved version it was replaced with nutriose – a carrier with prebiotic properties that are good for the digestive system.

The powdered honey produced by this method is excellent for confectionery, as well as meat products, as an additive to extend the shelf life of meatballs or pieces of meat, according to the tests carried out at the SGGW.  Research also shows that honey can be added as an antioxidant component and has antibacterial properties.

With a growing understanding of sugar’s negative effect on health, customers and the food industry are turning to alternatives such as honey. Global consumption is predicted to grow to 2.8 million tonnes by 2024. Poland is both an exporter and importer of honey, producing 22,000 tonnes per year. The dried version developed by the Warsaw scientists gives it a chance to strengthen its position on the market.

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Don’t Delay – Register TODAY!!!

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Updated Label – What’s different

Serving Size Updated

Calories – New Calculations for Dietary Fiber and Sugar Alcohols

Updated Daily Values

• Sodium: 2300mg (↓)
• Fiber: 28g (↓)
• Calcium: 1300mg (↓)
• Vitamin D: 20mg (↓)
• Potassium: 4700mg (↓)
• Vitamin C: 90mg (↓)

Updated Dietary Fiber Definition – AOAC2009.01 or 2011.25

New: Added Sugars*

Change of Nutrients

• Removed Vitamins A & C
• Added Vitamin D & Potassium

Folic* And Vitamin E*
Must be labeled as Natural vs Synthetic

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Using blockchain, retailers and suppliers can now work together to manage product information throughout the supply chain

As commerce moves inexorably online, earning and retaining consumer trust has become more complex than ever. With an immense range of choice at their fingertips, consumers have begun to expect full transparency on the products they buy. Is this item really what it says on the tin? Has that one been kept properly refrigerated throughout its journey to the store? Was it really organically produced?

If they can’t answer questions like these, brands and retailers risk losing their customers’ trust. And that often means losing their business. Accenture research shows that almost half the customers that switch brands do so because they’ve lost trust in the company.

Right now, this is a big challenge. Without a single version of the truth, tracking and tracing products across complex cross-border supplier networks is slow, expensive and error-prone. The lack of transparency is frustrating for consumers. It raises the risk of safety issues. And it prevents companies from identifying value opportunities in their supply chains.

The solution? An intelligent supply-chain capability that seamlessly connects parties across the ecosystem. Increasingly connected digital operations make this possible. Using blockchain (and other distributed ledger technologies), parties can, for the first time, work together to manage product information, from growing and manufacturing right through to distribution and retail.

Blockchain is revolutionary because it enables every party to write, read, share and use the same information – securely and in real time. Because the data on a blockchain is distributed among all participants, there’s a shared source of information. While it’s transparent, everyone involved can still control who sees what.

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies have been among the first to take advantage (our research shows they’re using blockchain in areas like warehouse management, sourcing and procurement). But the technology’s about to have a big impact on retail, too.

Over the next three years, more than half of the retailers in a recent Accenture survey expect blockchain to transform last-mile delivery. A similar number think it will play a key role in their ability to deliver hyper-personalized experiences.

Blockchain will introduce radical transparency to the consumer goods and retail industries. From food safety to anti-counterfeiting, and from international shipping to ethical manufacturing, brands and retailers will be able to solve some of their biggest pain points.

Blockchain is a key architectural element of the intelligent supply-chain infrastructure that will help revolutionize the future of customer transparency and trust.

Scoping the Blockchain Opportunity

Here are a few examples. Instead of spending weeks or months retrospectively tracing a product’s origins and current location, with blockchain, companies would always have instant access to accurate information. That would be transformational for product safety: Contaminated or faulty products could be pinpointed in just a few seconds and removed from sale.

That’s not all. By combining blockchain with the Internet of Things (networks of internet-connected smart devices/sensors), companies could avert product safety issues before they even occur. Blockchain-connected sensors embedded along the supply chain would continuously check for the right environmental conditions and instantly identify tampering.

Proving product authenticity will be transformed, too. Today, consumers take the provenance of food products on trust. If they have confidence in a brand, they’ll believe what it says on the label.

Counterfeiters seek to exploit that trust, and they’re getting more sophisticated all the time. With blockchain, however, the $1.2 trillion global counterfeiting industry would take a real hit. By tagging each product with a RFID chip, manufacturers could trace exactly where their products end up. And with simple swipe of a smartphone app, consumers and B2B buyers could check the product journey from end to end.

Sustainability provides another opportunity. Today’s consumers pay closer attention than ever to the environmental and societal impacts of the products they consume (According to Nielsen, 75 percent of Millennials say they’d be likely to change consumption habits to reduce their impact on the environment).

Guaranteeing ethical and sustainable production – and communicating that to consumers – is becoming essential. But it’s incredibly resource intensive. Up to now, companies have struggled to connect directly with small-scale suppliers at the start of the supply chain and incentivize them to adopt sustainable practices. Blockchain emphatically changes that. Completely tamper-proof, the technology enables every step in the growing and manufacturing process to be tracked, providing an audit trail of exactly how, where and from what each product was made.

That’s what chocolate brand Chocolonely did. Working with Accenture, the company used blockchain to combat predatory labor practices in the cocoa industry. During the pilot, it tracked more than 900,000 kilograms of beans and verified them as being 100 percent free from slave labor.

Taking Advantage

Blockchain is a key architectural element of the intelligent supply-chain infrastructure that will help revolutionize the future of customer transparency and trust. It enables new ways for companies to engage with customers and consumers, supports new ways of working and creates new ways to deliver on brand purpose. So how can your business take advantage?

Start thinking about your blockchain strategy now. Consider how this technology will disrupt your ecosystem, whether you choose to adopt it. Remember that blockchain is a tool, not a solution in its own right. It can only deliver real value when it’s pointed at the right problems. Test it out with trusted partners across your supply chain. Also, don’t forget to move fast: Select pilot use cases, test, iterate and scale.

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The Next KIM&JIM show will be LIVE from Jim Tew’s Beeyard. We’ll be looking at his bees, and his newly repaired fence, but more importantly, will be doing an above the tree-line aerial view looking at Jim’s neighborhood, and more importantly, the location of the new subdivision that’s going in this summer. What are the implications of neighbors, bees, insurance and liability now, and in the future. Something every urban beekeeper needs to be aware of. Wednesday, July 24th at Noon EST right here at the KIM&JIM Show.

Employees on the production line at Christopher Ranch in Gilroy, California — the local garlic industry is reaping the benefits of US trade tariffs against China because it makes local produce more competitive in the United States (AFP Photo/Josh Edelson)

As most US farmers feel the brunt of the trade war with China, some, like garlic and honey producers who have struggled for years, are applauding new, higher tariffs on Chinese goods.

“It’s been a pretty exciting time for us in Gilroy, California,” Ken Christopher, whose family runs Christopher Ranch, the nation’s largest garlic grower, told AFP.

Though nearly all garlic consumed in America was grown in the US prior to 1993, that changed almost overnight when Chinese exporters began flooding the US market with their product, all but wiping out garlic growers across the country, Christopher said.

“Back in the 1990s, there used to be 12 commercial garlic farms in America and now there’s only three,” he said. “And that’s due to the illegal dumping of Chinese garlic.

“Since 1993 they have illegally flooded the US market with cheap garlic below the cost of their production.”

Under sweeping trade duties imposed by the Trump administration — part of an aggressive strategy to force Beijing to end what the US considers to be unfair practices — tariffs on Chinese garlic increased from 10 to 25 percent on May 10.

Christopher, whose company grows about 100 million pounds of garlic annually that represent 30 percent of total US consumption, said that has led to prices more in line with US growers who have higher labor costs and have struggled over the years to stay afloat.

A box of about 30 pounds of Chinese garlic that sold for some $25 before the latest tariffs increase is now selling for about $45.

That’s as opposed to $50 to $60 for a box of US-grown garlic.

– Relief for Industry –

“This has brought immediate relief for our industry,” said Christopher, whose family-run business is the largest employer in Gilroy, located south of San Francisco, with about 1,100 people working there full-time.

“For the last 25 years, it’s been a game of whack a mole,” he added, describing the difficulty in going after Chinese exporters dumping their produce on the US market for a fraction of the price of US-grown garlic.

“By the time the US Department of Commerce identified the Chinese exporter violating the US law, that company would fold and pop up as a brand new company.

“And often times many of the companies in China were subsidized by the Chinese government.”

Honey producers across the United States who have helplessly watched over the years as China blew them out of the market are also thrilled about the tariffs increase.

“It’s been probably 30 years that China’s been trying to destroy our domestic beekeepers by selling large amounts of honey at prices way below what we can produce at,” said Kelvin Adee, head of the American Honey Producers Association.

“It costs the US producer around $1.75 to $1.85 to produce a pound of honey,” said Adee, whose company Adee Honey Farms is the largest commercial beekeeping operation in the US with some 100,000 beehives.

“They’re bringing it in here under a dollar and there’s no way we can compete with that.”

Adee said that while the US is heavily dependent on imported honey — it consumes around 600 million pounds of the product a year and only produces between 150 to 170 million pounds — tariffs are needed to ensure fair trade practices.

Trump has imposed 25 percent tariffs on a total of $200 billion in Chinese goods, and has threatened even more — while Beijing has hit back with tariffs of its own, largely targeting soybeans and pork.

But despite hopes the tariffs will even the playing field, farmers like Adee and Christopher are well aware that Chinese producers can still beat the system by using evasion schemes.

And they realize that other farmers across the country, like soybean and hog farmers, are paying a steep price because of the spiralling trade dispute.

“We know that a lot of farmers in the middle of the country are hurting and our hearts go out to them,” said Christopher.

“And we know that a 25 percent tariff isn’t a long-term solution,” he added. “We know that at the end of the day there will have to be some kind of negotiation between China and the US.

“But it’s our hope that there will be enhanced enforcement on both sides to make sure that their illegal dumping stops.”

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Check out the next LIVE KIM&JIM Show, on June 18, 2018. Kim and Jim are first going to take a look at the 4 bee hives on the A. I. Root Company property, right next to A. I. Root’s Home. There are 2 overwintered colonies, and 2 were installed as packages this spring. What’s up with the old and the new this spring? We’ll find out. Then, they’ll take a look at the new polystyrene hive just installed this spring to begin looking at thermal efficiency in a beehive. A new hive, with a new package will be the center of attention for a bit.

Then, because it’s Pollination Week, KIM&JIM will take a breather after all that work, and sip a cool one on the A. I. Root’s front porch and talk about all of the historical figures that have come and gone from that porch over the years, sort of a sneak preview of THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN BEEKEEPING event coming your way in October. And, because it’s pollination weeks, they’ll discuss a bit about the pollinator gardens, that they will visit later this summer, and about some of the activities going on around this most important subject.

KIM&JIM. Tune in, Tuesday, June 18, 2018 from noon to 1 PM. Look at bees, look at beehives. Sip a cool one on A. I. Root’s front porch. What better way to spend the first week of summer.

Please Register for Kim & Jim Visit the hives at A. I. Root’s home. on Jun 18, 2019 12:00 PM EDT at:

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/regist…/8037399612017492493

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

The Agricultural Act of 2014 (2014 Farm Bill) authorizes nonrecourse marketing assistance loans (MALs) and loan deficiency payments (LDPs) for the 2014 through 2018 crops of honey.

Nonrecourse MALs and LDPs are administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC).

Read the fact sheet Nonrecourse Marketing Assistance Loans and Loan Deficiency Payments for general information about MALs and LDPs.

Payment Limitations

For the 2014-2018 crop years, there are payment limitations on any benefit associated with the MAL or LDP programs.  The total amount of payments received for all covered commodities except peanuts, directly or indirectly, by a person or legal entity (except joint ventures or general partnerships) for Price Loss Coverage, Agricultural Risk Coverage, marketing loan gains and LDPs is limited to no more than $125,000 annually.  Producers exceed the limit are still eligible for MALs but must repay at principal plus interest.  Peanut producers have a separate $125,000 payment limit for benefits received from the same programs.

Read the Payment Limitation – 2014-2018 Fact Sheet for additional information for payment limitations for marketing loan gains and LDPs.

Adjusted Gross Income

For the 2014-2018 crop years, producers or legal entities whose average adjusted gross income (AGI) exceeds $900,000, are not eligible for marketing loan gains and LDP payments; but are eligible for MALs that must be repaid at principal plus interest.

Program Availability

Honey MALs and LDPs may be requested beginning on April 1 in the year the honey was produced and extracted.

Final Loan/LDP Availability Date for Honey

The final honey loan/LDP availability date is March 31 of the calendar year after the calendar year in which the honey was produced and extracted

Loan Rate

The 2014 Farm Bill set the national loan rate for honey at 69 cents per pound for 2014 through 2018 crop years.

Handbook

2-LP Loans and Loan Deficiency Payments for Honey – This handbook provides general instructions and information for administrating loans and LDPs for honey.

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