What's new with Better-B ?

Citizen science study on food sharing of pollinators - beeplants.eu now available in ten languages!

We are pleased to announce that you can now contribute to our Citizen science study on food sharing of pollinators in ten languages! The ...

Register for our next Better-B public event

We are happy to announce you our next public event, sharing key findings from our 2024 Citizen Science Food Sharing Study, highlighting new ...

Better-B's third newsletter - Vespa velutina and Aethina tumida: A growing threat to bees, biodiversity and beyond

Better-B's third newsletter is now available on our website.  Learn more about Vespa velutina and Aethina tumida, which present a growing ...

The key to resilient beekeeping is to harness the power of nature to restore harmony and balance inside the honey bee colony and between the colony and the environment

The overall aim of this 4-year Better-B project is to improve the resilience of beekeeping to abiotic stresses such as climate change, habitat loss and hazardous chemicals. Honey bee colonies are often poorly adapted to cope with these stresses, in no small part due to modern beekeeping practices.

The key to resilient beekeeping is to harness the power of nature to restore harmony and balance inside the honey bee colony and between the colony and the environment, both of which have been disturbed by human activities.

We believe that the path to harmony and balance is shown by Darwinian colonies: abandoned colonies and feral colonies that have survived in the wild. However, such colonies usually lack many favorable characteristics that are important in modern beekeeping. The solution here is to understand the processes and mechanisms that apply in nature and to adapt modern beekeeping practices and decision making accordingly, and when appropriate using the benefits of advanced technologies.

This is what Better-B stands for. The implementation of this new approach in apicultural management will be done in close collaboration with the actors involved. The restoration of harmony and balance must take place on three levels: the environment, the honey bee and beekeeping practices.

Watch our "Inside the Better-B hive" video series

Better-B has received funding from the European Union, the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government's Horizon Europe funding guarantee (grant number 10068544).

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Research Executive Agency (REA), SERI or UKRI. Neither the European Union nor the granting authorities can be held responsible for them.

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