Feb 03, 2022
Posted by: Robin Leigh
April 8, 2019
Alright, so we’ve reached the point in Everbee’s creation where we’re going to need to begin testing our solution and its efficacy on actual honey bees. It’s one thing to have a theory about how well it will work, but nature is hard to predict no matter how much research you have to support your idea.
Field testing is the next major step in bringing our ideas to fruition.
No one on our small team really has the ability or space to set up an apiary, and developing any level of proficiency keeping bees takes, frankly, a lot longer than we have. So the next idea was to rent an apiary, which is actually a very common practice. But, still, the idea of sharing bee bandwidth with other researchers and other renters wasn’t ideal.
We want a dedicated apiary. Our bees, for our Everbee.
Dick, who has now been the bridge between us and some of the most crucial people we'll ever meet, has done it again. At the Bayer Bee Health facility in North Carolina, Dick worked closely with a beekeeper named Jim Dempster. Jim is experienced, knowledgeable, patient, and has his own apiary.
We set up a call.
*clears throat for formal introduction*
Throughout his time at Bayer, Jim Dempster oversaw the Bee Health facility, as well as all honey bee testing. He managed the husbandry of controlled colonies of varroa mites and worked closely with the EPA and multiple non-profit organizations.
Jim is a member of the American Beekeeping Federation and is on the board of directors of the Johnson County Beekeepers Association. He’s working his way toward his Master Beekeeping Certification.
Jim manages our test hives in North Carolina!
We can’t tell you how excited we are, not only to have Jim join the team but to begin the long, exciting process of putting our honed theories into practice.