Whanganui to host Beekeepers Conference 2024 this weekend

Whanganui is going to be buzzing this weekend.

The Beekeepers Conference 2024, hosted by the Southern North Island Beekeepers Group, starts on Sunday at the Whanganui Racecourse and runs until Tuesday, August 13.

For hobby beekeepers or honey producers, this is a chance to gain a wealth of knowledge, some good networking and maybe answers to some of those questions they have been wanting answers to when it comes to bees.

The group pulled the conference together in just over three months.

Interest had been high and the group hoped for 100 attendees each day.

Featuring guest speaker biologist Randy Oliver from the United States, as well as many other experienced beekeepers, the event is an opportunity to get invaluable bee knowledge in one room.

Oliver is also a commercial beekeeper.

He is working on ways to eradicate pests and diseases attacking bee populations such as varroa mite.

Oliver is trialling organic acids as a natural way to kill the mite.

In New Zealand, varroa mites are starting to get resistant to synthetic miticides, as well as killing up to 30% of hives.

Varroa reproduce in the cell in the larval stage of developing bees.