CAPP (Ben Powell) received a grant in cooperation with NC State to survey honey bee diseases across the Carolinas and assist with storm recovery. The survey will assess prevalence of Vairimorpha (Nosema), European foulbrood, and American Foulbrood at 20 sites across the two states three times through 2025 (Winter, Spring, Summer) for a total of 300 samples. The survey is intended to determine the background levels of these diseases and determine if diseases are elevated in areas that experienced severe wind damage and flooding during Hurricane Helene in the fall of 2024. Clemson and NC State will also be offering several queen production trainings to improve capacity for localized microbreeders to help with colony loss recovery. Clemson is looking to hire a part time technician through 2025 to facilitate these efforts. The technician will assist with the queen production trainings and the Clemson Bee Breeding program. The technician also will coordinate disease sample collection and will measure the Vairimorpha load in each sample. I attached a short description of the position. Anyone interested in the position should contact Ben Powell directly (BPOWEL2@clemson.edu).
Ben Powell
APICULTURE AND POLLINATOR PROGRAM
Cooperative Extension
CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
Clemson Pee Dee Research & Education Center
2200 Pocket Rd.
Florence, SC 29506
w 843.662.3526
c 843.503.2511