Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium

The Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (MAAREC), established in 1997, is a regional group focused on addressing the pest management crisis facing the beekeeping

Beekeeping

Beekeeping is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans. A beekeeper keeps bees in order to collect honey and other products of the hive , to pollinate crops, or to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers...

industry in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. A task force has been established with representation from the departments of agriculture, state beekeeping organizations, and land-grant universities from each of the following states: New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

MAAREC has been researching alternatives to chemical controls and promotion of less reliance on chemical pesticides for mite control. MAAREC's Colony Collapse Disorder Working Group is investigating Colony Collapse Disorder

Colony Collapse Disorder

Colony collapse disorder is a phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive or European honey bee colony abruptly disappear. While such disappearances have occurred throughout the history of apiculture, the term colony collapse disorder was first applied to a drastic rise in the number of...

Further reading