Michigan State University has hired a new farm manager for its Pollinator Performance Center, a recently developed on-campus station dedicated to pollinator research, education and outreach.
Dan Wyns, who previously served as an academic specialist for honey bee colony health and management in the MSU Department of Entomology, will direct daily operations.
The center, which is located on the south side of campus off College Road, originates from a partnership among the Department of Entomology, MSU AgBioResearch and MSU Extension. It joins a cohort of several on-campus research facilities, as well as 15 off-campus facilities, that MSU AgBioResearch supports through funding and operational assistance.
Through his latest experiences, Wyns said he’s ready to collaborate with colleagues and partners to promote the center’s mission of advancing studies into honey bees and other pollinators. He said officially being a part of MSU’s campus farms will guarantee the proper capacity to care for honey bees, which in turn will safeguard them for novel research, instructional and outreach endeavors.
“I’m really pleased with the center’s transition toward becoming a university farm,” Wyns said. “It brings honey bees in line with other livestock. Honey bees are managed animals — they’re semi-domesticated. There’s a whole industry based around their care and management, and the beekeepers that look after them support many other agricultural producers by providing pollination services.
“We’re in a great place now that we have an operational structure where a dedicated farm manager and staff care for the honey bees and look after the facility.”
Click here to read more msu.edu
Photo Credit: pexels-pixabay
Categories: Michigan, Livestock