2024 Delaware Ag Week Promises Networking and Latest Innovations

DOVER, Del. (December 26, 2023)— Delaware’s agricultural industry looks forward to attending the annual Delaware Ag Week at the Delaware State Fairgrounds in Harrington from January 8 – 11, 2024.

“Ag Week is the largest venue where Delaware farmers, agribusinesses, and subject matter experts can network and learn about the latest innovations and research that will impact them in the upcoming growing season,” said Secretary of Agriculture Michael T. Scuse. “Nineteen years ago, the Department of Agriculture, University of Delaware, and Delaware State University Cooperative Extension developed Ag Week to help farmers get everything they needed in one spot so we could reduce the time they were away from the farm in the height of planting and harvesting, and it’s now a tradition everyone looks forward to attending.”

The four-day event offers many sessions featuring agronomy, animal science, beekeeping, fruits and vegetables, woodland management, and more. Attendees can earn continuing education credits for nutrient management, pest management, and Certified Crop Advising for Delaware and Maryland.

Those looking to attend the event can find the focus of each day, session topics, speakers, and locations online at https://sites.udel.edu/delawareagweek.

The information delivered is crucial to maintaining the success of the agriculture industry, which is the state’s top economic driver. According to the 2023 Feeding the Economy Report, agriculture employs 69,000 and provides nearly $10.3 billion in economic activity to Delaware. In addition, the state’s 2,300 family farms had $1.5 billion in direct sales to consumers.

According to Ag Week Chairman Cory Whaley with the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, “Delaware Ag Week is a great time to get continuing education credits, soak up information, and catch up with friends and others in the ag community. Session organizers have done a tremendous job in putting together great programs that will provide relevant and timely information.”

While registration is not required for the overall event, specific sessions require pre-registration, as specified online, to ensure adequate preparation for the caterers.

This event is brought to you by the Delaware Department of Agriculture, the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, and the Delaware State University Cooperative Extension. These organizations are equal opportunity providers. If you have special needs requiring accommodations, please get in touch two weeks before the event at 302-831-3328.

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Whether one hive or one hundred, it’s important to register your bee hive

DOVER, Del. — Healthy Bees are essential to Delaware’s vegetable production and agricultural economy. Bee-pollinated crops account for 15 to 30 percent of the food we eat (USDA 2013). Other crops may not be completely dependent on managed pollinators, but benefit from bee pollination. Delaware growers produce several crops which require insect pollination. These crops include watermelons, cucumbers, strawberries, cantaloupes, apples, blueberries, cranberries, squash, pumpkins and brambles. Watermelons make up the largest segment of these crops. In 2014, a total of 2600 acres of watermelons were planted in Delaware, and generated $13MM in sales. Bees are also essential for the pollination of wildflowers, and native trees and shrubs which are the backbone of the state’s forests and natural areas, which yield the fruits and seeds which sustain wildlife. Honey bees spend the spring and summer gathering nectar, which they convert into Delaware honey, a popular item in the state’s more than 25 Farmer’s Markets.

Earlier this year, the Delaware Department of Agriculture unveiled its Managed Pollinator Protection Plan to protect and enhance populations of bees and other valuable pollinators in the state. The Plan includes best management practices that beekeepers, fruit and vegetable growers, and pesticide applicators can use to help pollinators thrive. It also includes strategies to increase the quantity and quality of pollinator forage on private and public lands. The Pollinator Plan contains voluntary Best Management Practices (BMPs) for pesticide users, landowners/growers, and beekeepers in hopes of ensuring both a robust apiary industry and agriculture economy, reducing pesticide exposure and subsequent risk of pesticides to pollinators, and continued high compliance with state pesticide and apiary requirements. The plan can be reviewed at http://dda.delaware.gov/pdfs/DelawarePollinatorPlan2016.pdf.

Apiary and beekeeper registration requirements are listed in Delaware’s Beekeeping Law (Title 3, Chapter 75). Anyone who keeps bees is subject to this law, which serves agriculture by protecting the pollination services offered by the thousands of colonies of bees managed by beekeepers. These colonies are both managed within the state, and transported into the state for pollination. Bee colonies are chronically exposed to parasitic mites, viruses, diseases, pesticides, and poor nutrition, which weaken them and make them less able to handle these stressors. Honey bees in agricultural, suburban and urban areas compete for often scant floral resources and congregate with honey bees from neighboring apiaries. The potential for pest and disease transfer (horizontal transmission) and competition between beekeepers, is thus dramatically increased. The DE Beekeeping laws aim to reduce the impact of these stressors through specific requirements of all beekeepers in the state, such as hive registration, colony and equipment inspection for sale, trade or gifting of bees.

The Beekeeping Law includes appointment of a State Apiarist, who is charged with numerous duties to protect the health of Delaware bees. These duties include inspection of hives and queen rearing apiaries, maintaining a list of registered beekeepers, and promoting the science of beekeeping through education and other means. In addition, for registered beekeepers the State maintains a roster of swarm removal and pollination services, as well as hosting BeeCheck, a pesticide application notification system at no cost to the beekeeper. By law, the State Apiarist and state bee inspectors may enter any public or private premises, and have access to and from all apiaries or places where bees and bee equipment are kept, to inspect them for pests and diseases. The State Apiarist may also declare a quarantine and order destruction or treatment of hives, for serious pest or disease situations.

Whether 1 hive or 100, all persons keeping bees in Delaware are required by law to register annually with the State Apiarist. Section 7504 of the law states, “All persons keeping bees in this State shall notify the State Apiarist within 10 days of the time the bees are acquired, of the number and location of colonies they own, or rent, or which they keep for anyone else, whether the bees are located on their own or someone else’s property.” All persons keeping bees must register annually with the Delaware Department of Agriculture, on or before January 30 of each year. The Beekeeping law specifies penalties for violations. Anyone who violates the beekeeping law, is subject to a civil penalty of no less than $100 and no more than $1000 per count. Delaware’s beekeeping law can be found at: http://delcode.delaware.gov/title3/c075/.

The beekeeper registration form can be found at the Delaware Department of Agriculture’s website, on the forms tab: http://dda.delaware.gov/plantind/forms.shtml. It is a one-page form, and there is no registration fee. For assistance with completing the registration form, or for questions about Delaware’s Apiary Program, please contact the State Apiarist, Meghan McConnell, Meghan.McConnell@delaware.gov and 302-698-4500.

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Media Contact: Stacey Hofmann, Community Relations Officer, 302-698-4542, Stacey.Hofmann@delaware.gov


Beekeeping 101 workshop scheduled for January 18

DOVER — A Beekeeping 101 workshop will be held Jan. 18 for anyone interested in the art and science of beekeeping.

The event will take place 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Delaware State University Research & Outreach Center, 844 Smyrna-Leipsic Road, Smyrna.

Registration is $50 per person, which includes a one-year membership in the Delaware Beekeepers Association and the book “Beekeeping for Dummies.” Married couples or life partners can both attend and pay just one registration.

The event is sponsored by the Delaware Beekeepers Association and Delaware State University’s Small Farms Program.

Presenters will include Delaware State Apiarist Robert Mitchell with the Department of Agriculture, on honeybee pests and diseases; Ken Outten, DBA president, on sources for bees; Bill Leitzinger, DBA vice-president for New Castle County, on first-year hive management; Robert Bauer, DBA treasurer, on essential beekeeping equipment; and Katy Evans, graduate assistant to Dr. Debbie Delaney of the University of Delaware, on honeybee biology.

Participants can get registration forms at delawarebeekeepers.com or by email at rjb.bauer@gmail.com. They may be mailed, along with the $50 fee, to Bob Bauer, DBA Treasurer, 3210 Effendi Drive, Middletown, DE 19709.

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Media contact:
Dan Shortridge
Chief of Community Relations
Delaware Department of Agriculture
302-698-4520