Features Agronomy Insect Pests
Bayer Bee Care Center helps solve bee health’s toughest challenges

Dec. 5, 2012 - Bayer CropScience announced plans to break ground in February on its North American Bee Care Center, which will serve as a gathering place for researchers, bee experts, students and other visitors to meet regularly with leading Bayer scientists. The Bayer Bee Care Center is dedicated to promoting and protecting bee health so that these hard-working, beneficial insects can continue to provide hive products as well as pollination services for foods we enjoy each day.

The North American Bayer Bee Care Center, to be located at the Bayer CropScience North America headquarters in Research Triangle Park, N.C., is scheduled for completion in July 2013 (summer). The Bee Care Center is part of Bayer's Global Bee Care Program, which provides a more focused and centralized resource for Bayer scientists and external stakeholders. The Center will bring together significant technological, scientific and academic resources, with the ultimate goal of supporting product stewardship and sustainable agriculture.

"We understand the necessity for healthy bees as pollinators and their critical role to agriculture, and by working with scientists, growers, beekeepers and customers, we strive to create new approaches and solutions to benefit bee health and the global food supply," said Jim Blome, president and CEO of Bayer CropScience North America. "Because we are aware of the challenge to continue feeding a growing world population, our Bee Care Center will be a vital resource in our ongoing commitment to maintaining sustainable agriculture."

The North American Bee Care Center will include a full laboratory and research apiary, as well as honey extraction and workshop space needed to conduct bee health research and to support a practical apiculture. The research will focus on Integrated Pest Management for the multiple causes affecting bee health, such as parasites, like the Varroa mite, predators, diseases, seasonal management, and environmental stressors.

The Center will also include the active promotion of bee-responsible use of Bayer products along with communication activities worldwide, and state-of-the art meeting, training and presentation facilities for beekeepers, farmers and educators to provide resources and an interactive learning center.

Bayer's new North American Bee Care Center is the second established by the company to promote bee health. In 2012, its global Bayer Bee Care Center was established at the joint headquarters campus of Bayer CropScience and Bayer Animal Health in Monheim, Germany.

The Bayer Bee Care Center, a more than 6,600 square feet building in Research Triangle Park, will be fully staffed, including an office space for graduate students. Not only will the Center be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certified, providing, pollinator-friendly gardens, but it will also produce a surplus of energy. As a LEED-certified building, the Center will continue Bayer's efforts to reduce its carbon footprint to help improve agricultural management and foster environmental stewardship. The net zero building will generate more energy each year than consumed through its geothermal heating and cooling, LED lighting and solar water heating.

For more than 25 years, Bayer has been actively involved in finding solutions to improve honey bee health, and the two new Centers confirm how its commitment furthers collaboration and understanding of the health of bees.

December 6, 2012  By Bayer CropScience