Submission on the AFB eradication Strategy

[Dr Mark Goodwin]

I can see many good beekeepers getting upset if we are forced to attend a training course just because a small minority needs to attend it. Instead, re training should be compulsory to beekeeping operations who are failing to reduce their AFB incidence by the Afb PMP target each year.
The next question is, who pays for this training. Should it be paid by out levies or should it be "user pays"?

Training courses

The job of the PMA is not only to run workshops but also to convince commercial beekeepers that they want to go. They have a sick they can wave and this is to make it a requirement of having a DECA. They have to make them useful and interesting. So even beekeepers who don't think they have a AFB problem would would want to attend even if they were not required to.

 

[tristan]

Training courses

The job of the PMA is not only to run workshops but also to convince commercial beekeepers that they want to go. They have a sick they can wave and this is to make it a requirement of having a DECA. They have to make them useful and interesting. So even beekeepers who don't think they have a AFB problem would would want to attend even if they were not required to.

+1
a lot of commercial beeks have become complacent or have poor practices/procedures.
a lot of them only know what they got taught many years ago and it wasn't good back then.

 

[Dr Mark Goodwin]

Training courses

The job of the PMA is not only to run workshops but also to convince commercial beekeepers that they want to go. They have a sick they can wave and this is to make it a requirement of having a DECA. They have to make them useful and interesting. So even beekeepers who don't think they have a AFB problem would would want to attend even if they were not required to.

Programme for Commercial workshops (In no particular order, and not complete)
1) The use of DECA
2) How to manage staff doing AFB checks
3) How to audit staff AFB checks
4) Timing of AFB checks, number of frames
5) Apiary and area quarantines
6) PCR and how to use it
7) Interpreting PCR results
8) What your AFB history tells you
9) If you have AFB, where did it come from
10) How does AFB spread
11) How can you tell if you AFB recognition skills are not as good as they could be . (Interestingly I have found two people who were paid to inspect other peoples hives for AFB but couldn't find obvious cases
12) What you need to do to eradicate AFB from you outfit plus some case histories
13) Are you neighbouring beekeepers a source of AFB (case histories)
14) What a good AFB inspection looks like
15) How do you inspect for AFB when you are taking honey off
16) What to do when there is a lot of PMS and you don't have time to check each cell with perforated capping's
17) When must you be absolutely sure that there is no AFB (risk models)
18) What to do when you are unsure of a visual diagnosis
19) etc

 

[Bee Real]

Good sugestión Mark and I am sure this will help good beekeepers and I would be willing to attend such a workshop regularly.

However, what do you do with the small minority that have an AFB problem, but don’t want to receive any advice because they believe they already know it all.
For instance, You may know that one of the Afb spreaders identified a few years back was an ex MAF Apiary instructor and self proclaimed AFB expert and varroa resistant queen breeder. He was caught scorching afb boxes, having hives without moveable frames and shock swarming infected hives, he was also a DECA holder.

Expert on spreading afb to neighboring beekeepers that is what he was!
Such a workshop wouldn’t change his behaviour......

Also, I understand that the Afb PMP apiary surveillance inspections are not intended to find AFB, but to confirm absence of disease or absence of mismanaged AFB.
I think it is a misconception that afb surveillance aims at eradicating AFB, we can ask his at the Conference this week.