THE 2023 FALL ABA CONFERENCE IS COMING SOON!


September 29-30 are the dates of the Fall Conference for this year!

It will be at the Ozark Folk Center in Mountain View, Arkansas

The people have spoken! The last ABA meeting in Mountain View in the fall of 2022 was a huge success. We had so many people attend that we had to move to a larger auditorium to accommodate everyone. So it was decided to hold the next fall meeting there as well. We have already reserved a date with the Ozark Folk Center, and we’ll meet there again on September 29-30, 2023. So mark your calendars and plan to return to scenic Mountain View, Arkansas next year.

The ABA strives to invite interesting and popular guest speakers from around the country to share their ideas and experiences on honey bees and beekeeping with you.

If there is a topic you are interested in, or a speaker you’d like to hear at our conferences, let your officers know!

David A. Westervelt

A native of Umatilla, Florida, David started keeping bees at age six and has kept bees for 46 years.  In his time in the army, he had the opportunity to work with bees all over the world.  For the last 22 years he has held various positions in the beekeeping community in Florida, including state bee inspector and environmental specialist.  He works on research projects with USDA, FDA, and FSU on topics such as varroa mites, tracheal mites, AFB and SHB.  He learns something new about bees every day.

Kent Williams

Kent Williams is a master beekeeper and has been keeping honeybees for more than 30 years.  He currently has several hundred hives in his apiaries in Western Kentucky and Mississippi.  Kent raises queens, makes NUCs and shakes packages.  He also rents bees for pollination in California, Kentucky, and Indiana.  In addition to speaking to honeybee groups, Kent also sponsors an annual school for beekeepers at his Kentucky farm in April.  Even with all his experience, Kent states that he is continuously learning how to keep bees alive and healthy.

Some folks at the recent conference asked about how to find a veterinarian willing to diagnose honey bees. The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture has been helping to train our state’s vets since the FDA changed the federal laws on the sale of veterinary antibiotics. You can download the most current Arkansas Veterinary Directory, which is arranged by county.