Honeybees are critical to our economy, food security, and environmental health. The honeybee pollination industry adds more than $15 billion in value to agricultural crops each year. This industry supports an estimated 90-130 crops, the harvest which accounts for up to one-third of the U.S. diet. These valuable pollinators ensure that our diets are plentiful with fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Not only are honeybees are a critical link in our food supply that affect productivity and pricing, they are important product of our rural communities. Our goal is to reduce national honeybee losses and help stabilize our food supply by providing beekeepers and growers with a new tool and new information. The problem we are addressing is that honeybees and their keepers are facing devastating losses each year. Beekeepers in the United States lost 44% of their colonies in the last year alone. The honeybee industry desperately needs a way to mitigate these dramatic declines and growers need a stable, healthy supply to ensure their crop yields. One of the primary causes of honeybee decline is the Varroa Destructor, a mite that can quickly overtake a honeybee colony if left untreated. Our solution to this problem is provide beekeepers with a new tool that uses advances in small, low cost sensors to give beekeepers more accurate information on the severity of varroa mite infestations and other health conditions. With more accurate and timely information, beekeepers can act quickly to treat troubled hives. Our research and technology will provide additional benefits to the industry: savings in time and labor for inspections, improved management, the creation of a honeybee health database, and a new way for stakeholders to work together at a national level to address emerging issues.
