2025 Black Hills Beekeeping Conference
Danielle Downey, Executive Director of Project Apis m., gave an alarming statistic that commercial beekeepers managing 500+ colonies (hives) have have so far reported a 2024-2025 winter loss of 62%.
Over 60 area beekeepers met at Western Dakota Technical College for the Buzz in the Black Hills Conference, Feb. 21-22, 2025. Experts in the field of beekeeping hosted keynotes and sessions on Bee Biology, educational programs for beekeepers ages 4-100, natural beekeeping, hive health, and hive management. Attendees ranged from people interested in possibly getting into beekeeping to 40+ year beekeeping veterans.
Danielle Downey, Executive Director of Project Apis m. gave an alarming presentation on a breaking statistic in commercial beekeepers. Commercial beekeepers who are managing 500+ colonies (hives) are reporting a 2024-2025 winter loss of 62%. Not all have reported due to the northern hives have not come out of the winter yet, but if the trend continues it will surpass the estimated loss from the Colony Collapse Disorder in the early 2000s. It is not yet known what killed the colonies. Mrs. Downey said this discovery showed up in early February so more research is needed. Project Apis m. (PAm) is a leader in coordinating funding for bee research and is surveying beekeepers from hobbyists to large scale to start tracking down what may have caused the dramatic loss of bees this winter.
SDSPA’s Urban Ag Liaison, Malisa Niles, provided informational materials at the conference.
SDSPA’s own Malisa Niles presented on a series of high school educator programs for promoting beekeeping in South Dakota’s schools. Through a USDA Specialty Crop Block grant, S.D. teachers participate in a beekeeping boot camp that upon completion the teacher goes home with two complete hives, beekeeping tools and an extractor to be used by their school district. Teachers may also travel to California to experience how bees are used for pollination. The three facet of the program is traveling to Mississippi to see a winter bee yard and participate in the requeening of the hives. For more information on this program, contact Malisa or the project led Spencer Cody, Science Teacher at Edmunds Central High School.
Black Hills Beekeepers Club hosted the Buzz in the Black Hills Conference entitled ‘Are You A Beekeeper or Bee Buyer?’ The club provided a great conference with knowledge speakers and great demonstrations and of course a ton of bee jokes.