Beekeepers in Michigan face many challenges. Michigan State University Extension (MSU Extension) wants to help beekeepers overcome these challenges and hear from them about their topics of interest and needs. In May 2023, MSU Extension and Michigan Beekeepers Association (MBA) administered a needs assessment to understand educational needs of small-scale beekeepers in Michigan. MSU Extension and MBA shared the online survey through MBA’s email list, MSU Extension’s Pollinators & Pollination website and email digest, the Michigan State University Beekeeping Facebook page, Michigan Beekeepers Association's Facebook page and beekeeping events.
The survey received responses from 285 individuals who indicated they were from Michigan from 64 counties. Eight percent of responses came from people new to beekeeping with zero years of beekeeping experience, and 95% of responses came from beekeepers who have fewer than 50 honey bee colonies. The survey also received 33 responses from individuals outside of Michigan that are not included in this report.
MSU Extension and MBA will use responses from this needs assessment to choose topics for beekeeping conference sessions and other educational programs.
Educational topics of interest
Respondents were asked, “Which beekeeping topics would you like more information on?” and instructed to select all that apply. Responses:
62% Keeping colonies alive
59% Disease identification
59% Disease management
59% Dealing with queen events and queenlessness
59% Wintering
51% Managing varroa
47% Making nucs or splits
43% Swarm deterrence
40% Queen rearing
34% Feeding and nutrition
33% Monitoring varroa
28% Honey production
26% Constructing and maintaining beekeeping equipment
25% Increasing the number of colonies I manage
9% Other
Respondents were asked, “Which additional topics would you like more information on?” and instructed to select all that apply. Responses:
58% Planting for pollinators
40% Wild bee species
35% How to train and teach other beekeepers
29% Increasing profitability
22% Getting started with beekeeping (first two years of beekeeping)
20% Farm management and business
10% Dealing with farm stress
5% Deciding if I want to work for a commercial beekeeping operation
5% Deciding if beekeeping is right for me
5% Other
Source: msu.edu
Photo Credit: pexels-pixabay
Categories: Michigan, General