Apiary Inspectors of America with Brooke & Natasha (286)

286 - Apiary Inspectors of America with Brooke & Natasha

Jay Starr: Hi, there. I'm Jay Starr from Manitoba, Canada, and welcome to Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Jeff Ott: Welcome to Beekeeping Today Podcast, presented by Better Bee, your source for bee keeping news, information, and entertainment. I'm Jeff Ott.

Becky Masterman: I'm Becky Masterman.

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Jeff: Hey, thanks a lot, Jay Jay Starr. Up in Manitoba, Canada, Becky, it's cold up there during the winter.

Becky: It's leave your keys in the car and the car running while you go into the store cold up there in Canada.

Jeff: [chuckles] Yes. I wasn't quite sure where you were going with that, but, yes, that's definitely true. When I lived in Colorado, not that Colorado is like Manitoba, but we would have to, on the truck, put an engine block heater on and just leave that on, keep the truck plugged in overnight.

Becky: Yes, it's a different way of life. We take pride in maintaining ourselves during cold weather in Minnesota, but once we travel to Manitoba, we are in a different, different thermal situation. We are no longer the heroes. They are the heroes. [laughter]

Jeff: Different thermal situation, you mean lack of thermal situation. It is definitely summer, how are your bees doing?

Becky: The bees are just beautiful right now. It's just the perfect time of year for beekeeping.

Jeff: I love just going out in the bee yard, and sitting, and listening, and watching. That's kind of a meditation for me to just escape everything.

Becky: It is, but it's also just a great workout, because the boxes are heavier, and so, just with repetition, you're getting a great workout, and you don't have to go to the gym.

Jeff: All that core work. [laughs]

Becky: All that core work.

Jeff: That's a funny story. I don't know. I don't know. I like my 8 frames, and every time I have to pull those off, the boxes, I'm happy that they're not the full 10-frame deeps.

Becky: 10-frame supers, I love them. 10-frame deep supers. As long as I can do it.

Jeff: I'll let you help me pull the honey this year. [laughter] Becky, does Minnesota have state bee inspectors, or county inspectors even?

Becky: Minnesota is inspector-less. We do not have inspectors in Minnesota.

Jeff: See, I find it interesting because where I grew up in Ohio, and where I started keeping bees in Ohio, we had a state apiary inspector, and each county or group of counties had a bee inspector. They had to come out to your yard once a year and inspect your bees. I always thought that was the coolest thing in the world. I know a lot of people don't like state inspectors, and don't like anybody else touching their bees. Let's not go there, but what I thought was great was how much fun it was to go-- this guy came down, he was a skinny little old man, and he'd sit, I don't know, I say that with all due respect, he sat down, he had a little box.

It might have been his lunch box, I don't know what it was, it was just a small box. He squatted there next to the hive, he just had this thinnest of a veil on, and a flannel shirt, and he had a pipe. He would just lift the veil, puff on his pipe, and blow the smoke a little bit, and he just worked the bees very methodically, very slowly, look at them, and says like, "Now, this is really cool." For me, I don't know how old I was, but I wasn't a youngster, I was out of school. Anyways, it was lots of fun to see and experience. The Apiary Inspection Programme I thought was very valuable at the time, especially it was a time when AFB and EFB were the only real problems beekeepers had to worry about.

Becky: First of all, are you sure he was an inspector? [laughter]

Jeff: He said he was.

Becky: Really, it's a game changer now if everything that inspectors have to worry about. AFB is just a mention, and inspectors are just all over Varroa, and also knowing what's next. The era of being an inspector and having to be straightforward is maybe different. I think the era of using a pipe for your smoker is also probably a thing of the past for inspectors.

Jeff: Yes, we'll have to take a poll. In fact, let's ask our guests today who are here, Brooke and Natasha, to talk to us from the Apiary Inspectors of America. We'll have to ask them if either of them smoke pipes while they work bees.

Becky: That is a great question. I think you should just start with, and then let's just see how they answer it.

Jeff: Maybe I'll save that question for the last one so they don't walk out. All right, we'll hear from them right after these words from our sponsors.

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Jeff: While you're at the Strong Microbials site, make sure you click on and subscribe to The Hive, their regular newsletter full of interesting beekeeping facts and product updates. Hey, everybody. Welcome back. Sitting around the virtual Beekeeping Today Podcast table right now with Becky and me are Brooke Decker and Natasha Garcia-Anderson from Apiary Inspectors of America. Ladies, welcome to the podcast.

Natasha Garcia-Andersen: Hey, thanks for having us.

Brooke Decker: Thanks for having us. I'm excited to be here.

Becky: Welcome both of you. We are super pleased, and we can't wait to start asking lots of questions.

Jeff: We want to talk about the Apiary Inspectors of America and everything you do, but before we get down into that, let's talk a little bit about your backgrounds. Alphabetically, Brooke, if you can just tell us who you are, and your background, and how you got interested in bees and in the position you're in.

Brooke: My name is Brooke Decker. I am the apiary inspector in Vermont. My official title is Pollinator Health Specialist. I wear many hats really in the Agency of Agriculture here in Vermont, but primarily during the season of bees here, inspecting honeybees, and then anything bee or pollinator related in the state. I got into bees because we always had bees growing up, but I developed a love for honey. Then when I left my parents' home, I had to seek out beekeepers on my own, and met beekeepers, and got into it on my own because I had to keep my supply coming.

Natasha: My name is Natasha Garcia-Anderson, and I am a little different than all the other apiary inspectors. I am actually a wildlife biologist here in Washington, DC at the Department of Energy and Environment. The beekeeping thing kind of came to me because I had to write the regulations for urban beekeeping in the city. That's how I got into beekeeping. I also do other wildlife programs and stuff. I'm a little different than the rest of them. We don't have a Department of Ag, so I am in the Department of Energy and Environment, which is basically our environmental agency in the district. When you don't have a state, you get a little creative with where you place things.

[laughter]

Jeff: That's just for the district itself, right, for the urban beekeeping?

Natasha: Urban beekeeping for the District of Columbia, so, yes, I am the apiary inspector for DC.

Jeff: Just a little sidetrack here, how many beekeepers are there in the district?

Natasha: We have probably around 150, and we're teetering close to almost 700 hives in the city. There's a lot of bee action going on, especially during swarm season.

Jeff: Does the White House still have bees? They used to.

Natasha: They do have bees, and so does the VP residence.

Becky: Do you go there frequently? Do you tell them you need a monthly inspection?

Natasha: No. I haven't been to the White House. It's pretty hard to get in there, but I have been to the VP residence, and it took a lot of planning, and escorting, and credentials saying Homeland Security has bees, and when I went there I had to take my passport. It gets a little interesting sometimes.

Becky: Did they stamp your passport?

Natasha: No.

[laughter]

Jeff: "I'm sorry you can't carry that in here," "But it's my hive tool."

Becky: I have about 50 more beekeeping in Washington DC Questions that we're just going to table, and hopefully it'll be another episode.

Natasha: Sounds good.

Jeff: Again, thank you for joining us. We've had the Apiary Inspectors of America on early on. Several years ago, Kim and I invited representatives on, and I apologize now for not remembering who they were. Can you tell us a little bit, and I'll just throw this open question to whoever wants to take it? What is the Apiary Inspectors of America, and what is your mission?

Natasha: Apiary Inspectors of America, we're a nonprofit made up of regulatory officials in different states and provinces and territories in the US, Canada. Our main goal is basically, we're kind of a support group for each other, talking about issues, talking about bee health. We work together to get grants for our programs because a lot of them are underfunded, so we're kind of a professional organization, but we're a little more than that because we're also a support for each other since there are so few of us in North America.

Becky: Natasha, you're the president of the organization. How long have you been president?

Natasha: This will be my third year being president.

Becky: Brooke, you're vice president?

Brooke: Yes, and I have been vice president for two years.

Jeff: How many members are in the AIA?

Natasha: I don't know how many. I think around 70 maybe, around 70-something.

Brooke: We teeter around like 60 to 80. It depends on, we have a lot of exciting things going on right now, which I think we're going to get to. I think our membership has increased a little bit because of all the work we've been doing. There's some trainings coming up that more people have joined to be part of. The word is getting out that we have really fun annual meetings. I think our membership drive is working.

Becky: Wait, follow-up. What makes your annual meetings just so much fun?

Brooke: We go to different places around the country, but I think one of the highlights is we have really good snacks. I think that's what our members really appreciate. We have great snacks, we have good swag, we have lots of fun and sharing together, and I think what most people get out of it is the sharing with each other, and we have unique jobs that it's hard to relate to most of the other people in the industry, really. There's very few of us, so when we get together, we can share stories, and really work on collaborative projects and all kinds of things. After these meetings, we come back with even more work than we started with, but it's all for bettering the industry, and our jobs, and our lives, and our connections

Natasha: I think it helps that we also all genuinely like each other, and I think that makes it a lot easier to work with each other. I know just from me being really tiny and surrounded by other states, having that relationship with the other states, and being able to call them when I have questions, or when we're trying to move stuff, it really helps.

Jeff: Are members state officials, or are they private individuals? How does that work?

Natasha: In order to be a member, you have to be a regulatory official. Most of us are employees of states or provinces or territories. There are a few like Texas and South Carolina where they are officials, but they're technically employees of universities, but they still have that regulatory component. In order to be a member, you need to be regulatory in your state, because we do have people from industry or just from beekeeping associations try to join, but it's strictly for regulatory officials.

Jeff: Has the number of the state Apiary Inspectors gone down over the years, or is it about the same?

Natasha: I know that we lost, I guess Connecticut no longer has an apiary program, but I think it's pretty stagnant, and I think sometimes it'll stay the same unless you lose one. I don't think any states have added one except for maybe DC.

Brooke: I don't have the hard numbers, but just anecdotally, and I've only been in this position five years, but it seems that there may be a state that loses one, but then another state gains one. I think that the total number maybe stays about the same. I know Massachusetts has moved from like one to maybe four full-time over the past few years. I think it ebbs and flows depending on budgets, and I think the need is there. I was going to say need, but I think the need is there in every state, but I think it's mostly budget and advocating for that position in a budget that really makes the difference.

Jeff: I imagine there's states where there's a lot of migratory beekeepers going in and out of probably, or have a much more of a desire to have a state apiary inspector as opposed to states that have little migratory pressure.

Natasha: I think the states with a bigger migratory presence have more inspectors like Texas, North Dakota, they definitely have more than the other ones. Florida has a lot of inspectors, and then you get to some ones like Indiana, I think they have one. It really depends.

Jeff: Becky and I were talking earlier that I'm originally from Ohio, and when I had bees in Ohio, we had inspectors in every county. Then it got into an inspector to every group of counties, and now I think there's just one inspector for the state. It seems like it's morphing a lot. I suppose a lot of that is budgetary. What are your training programs, or what are the programs that you offer to your state Apiary Inspectors?

Natasha: We have a big one coming up. We actually got a grant we put in together with Auburn University for training with Project Apis m, and so we have money from them, and also from the USDA farm bill money, we got money to put on a workshop for apiary inspectors about Tropilaelaps. There's been a lot of talk about Tropilaelaps, not a lot of people know too much about it, even the researchers. We wanted to make sure we got all the Apiary Inspectors on the same page. Just go over the basic biology, talk about it.

Brooke and I were very fortunate to be a part of a group of inspectors and a couple people from industry that went over to Thailand in January to actually see Tropilaelaps firsthand. That made a big difference I know for me and probably Brooke as well, just seeing it, and seeing how it lives and everything. Then we're going to bring all that information back, and do workshops with our inspectors here in the US. That's one of our big trainings we have coming up.

Jeff: I would think going over to Thailand to see the Tropilaelaps directly would be quite frightening in some ways.

Natasha: For me, it was frightening, but also just understanding how they live and stuff, it made you really question how it would live in the US in the different climates, because we were there in January in Thailand, and it was still hot, so they don't really get winter. Then seeing how they live on the native species was really eye-opening, and see how they jumped to the honeybees.

Jeff: I know that's a big scary point for many folks with the Tropilaelaps and being prepared for that. Are you involved in preparing the plans for the eventuality of Tropilaelaps? Because I'm in Washington State now, and we had the big scare with the Asian giant hornet, or the murder hornet, or the Great Northern Hornet, I think they decided to name it. All of the eradication efforts in undertakings of the state of Washington and British Columbia was very effective, and it's not an issue. Are you developing a plan for the Tropilaelaps?

Natasha: We would have to default to the USDA for something like that, the actual plan and official identification and stuff, but they can't make a plan until something's here. I think as apiary inspectors, we are working on something just internally, and letting people know the proper channels to go through if you do detect something. I feel like a lot of us aren't quite sure how it all works out, and that's one thing we're going to talk about at the workshop, is what happens if you do see something, who do you report it to? What's the chain of command? How does it become official, where does it go from there?

Jeff: Where is the, in case of emergency, break glass here? What does that look like?

Brooke: I think that goes with any new invasive species, but we haven't had, in my short time here, that happen. I think now we've had a couple hornets, so we're ramping up the need for this understanding of the communication channels, and what to do in situations like this where it is kind of an emergency situation.

Becky: I think that's the great thing about an apiary program where you know who the beekeepers are. If something comes up, if there's an introduced species, you have everybody's phone number and email address. We don't have an apiary inspector in Minnesota, and so we would all be dependent upon beekeeping clubs and university's extension to share that information. I think it's so important that that's the work you're doing. How do you both in your own program separately communicate with your beekeepers?

Brooke: I'll answer that question, but to the point that you were making, it's so important, and I don't want to miss it, this opportunity. [00:20:06] When just as you were saying, there's these things that come up and without an apiary inspector in a state. It's just such an important role to have. There are a lot of bees in Minnesota.

It's shocking to me that they don't have an apiary inspector, but this is a real concern from us as the apiary inspectors, but I'm guessing others in the industry that, what would happen? What if a beekeeper in Minnesota noticed something in their hive that they couldn't identify? How does that work there? I'm sure it would work its way out, but is it speedy enough to catch something before it spreads further, if that makes sense?

Natasha: Brooke, I don't want to alarm you even further, but all of our beekeeping organizations in Minnesota were not coordinated either.

Brooke: Oh dear.

Natasha: But, we do have the University of Minnesota Bee Lab, and we do have the Bee Squad. We have a very, very strong extension and research program. Like I said, I live here, and I think that the role of an apiary inspector is so important, because you do have that regulatory and communication responsibility.

Brooke: Yes. Let's advocate for more inspectors.

Natasha: That's why we're just regulatory, because the university is great and all, but they can't tell someone not to move a hive if they find something weird in it. That's where the apiary inspectors come in.

Becky: I feel like I'm being put on the spot here. I did not do away with the apiary inspector program in Minnesota. It happened a long time ago.

Brooke: We are blaming it on you.

Becky: No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

Jeff: Let's Google that, all right?

Becky: Yes.

Jeff: Hey, let's take this opportunity to take a quick break, and we'll be right back.

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Becky: Jeff, you left everybody hanging.

Jeff: That's the way it works.

Becky: I think you were trying to get me out of a rough spot. I appreciate it. I was curious as far as how both of you communicate with your different groups of beekeepers, and if also the Apiary Inspectors of America, if there's that kind of communication help too. Are you also supporting information for your inspectors to share with the different beekeepers?

Brooke: Yes. In Vermont, in my state, registration is required. We have a list. Sure, not everybody's registered, but we hope everyone is. We maintain a database and a list of all the beekeepers and their locations and things. We can communicate fairly easily. We have most everyone's emails, but we're a different kind of group that sometimes mail is the way to go. We do a lot of communication still through snail mail. I'll let Natasha talk about how she communicates it to DC, and then we can talk about how we communicate as an organization.

Natasha: Since I'm just a wee little bloop compared to the other places, we have a really active beekeeping club, and they're really on top of things, and they love. We have WhatsApp for the swarm squad. They have Google groups where I can pop in. Just like Brooke, registration is mandatory. I should know where all the hives are, and actually all of our hives are also numbered. When you register your hive, we put a number on it to identify it.

Jeff: Each individual hive is numbered? The beekeepers are required to put their number, A64 or something on the hive?

Natasha: Yes. We have official registration stickers we send them, and they're numbered, and they put them on their hives. A lot of that is because we have people keeping bees in community gardens or in a group setting, and we have people that sometimes think it's fun to kick them over. We try to figure out whose hive that is. We can look up the number and see who the owner is. Yes, all of our hives are numbered.

Becky: Natasha, I have to ask, if I have a colony and I decide swarm control, I'm going to do a split, then how long do I have to communicate with you to get a new sticker?

Natasha: 30 days.

Becky: 30 days. Oh, my operation would be just such a flurry of sticker getting.

Natasha: Yes, there's a lot of stickers and a lot of paper work.

Becky: I bet.

Natasha: It gets really confusing sometimes with people moving them, and keeping track of numbers. People send me a little spreadsheet, like, "This number went here, this number went there." I was like, "Oh my." Yes, it gets a little nutty sometimes.

Nicole: Overall, does the Apiary Inspectors of America, do you have a communication strategy to support your inspectors in supporting their beekeepers?

Brooke: Yes. We have a listserv that we communicate with AIA members. Then, we also do work regionally I guess to try to keep-- even if you're not a member, there's probably a few states that have apiary inspectors, but they're not members of the AIA, which is fine. We still try to include them on important events and things that are happening. Like this training that we're having at Auburn in the fall, we reached out to them. It's not just for AIA members. We try to keep them incorporated as much as we can, but then the listserv is just for AIA members.

Natasha: We do do, like Brooke said, some things regionally where I know Brooke in the Northeast, they have a whole New England area where they do things together. There's a lot of joint cooperation amongst us to get information to our beekeepers. In the Northeast, like Maine, I asked them for the little covers they make so you can do my checks, and she sent me a bunch. My beekeepers do get stuff from neighboring states, because we're all about sharing resources because we all have pretty small programs. If we can help each other out, we usually do.

Brooke: We have a lot of good info on our website, and we're hoping to launch a new website with just pest and disease type stuff, because that's what we're heavy into right now. But we do get a little ambitious. We also have full-time jobs, and then we want to do this AIA stuff. We're all very passionate about our work. Sometimes we don't sleep. We want to have more resources about these really important topics that are coming at us around the world.

Becky: One of the interesting things about your website is that it really is for beekeepers. I see as a beekeeper, if I go to your website, there's a lot of great information there right now that supports me. When this comes out, it's past the time, but you've also taken on helping get the word out for the colony loss survey. It seems like your site is really, it's another go-to for beekeepers. Is that a change that you've done recently?

Natasha: As far as the survey, the survey is something new that we took on and partnered. Auburn took the lead, and we are helping them out with it, because with the loss of BIP in the survey, there was going to be a big gap, and we knew that those numbers were really important for a lot of people as far as research and funding. We said, let's do it. We saw the importance of it. We're hosting it as the portal on our site with Auburn.

Like Brooke said, we hope to one day have a site just for information, like a one-stop shop for information. If you Google something, you'll get a whole bunch of different hits in different places, but you don't know, has it been vetted, is this true? Hoping we can have a place where people can go and get really up to date factual information about pests, disease, things that are happening with beekeeping.

Brooke: Our website is very geared towards just a beekeeper who is interested in maybe trying to find an inspector or learn. They hear this podcast, and they want to check it out. There is a member-only page where we have shared resources like SOPs, how to identify American Foul Brood, what's the process for handling whatever it is, all kinds of things, best practices for doing an investigation, all that stuff is in the members only, because that's not really relevant to-- I mean, everybody needs to know how to identify it, but it's not with wearing the regulatory lens.

Becky: Have you had any relationships yet with veterinarians as far as the B Health part, and inspections, and now with the veterinary feed directive?

Natasha: We've partnered with some vet groups, I'm sorry I can't remember the exact acronyms or the names of them in the past. We actually did a section in a book about how to work with your apiary inspector, like how it all works. We talked about different diseases and stuff, and how it's regulated. We have several members that have also spoken at some of their meetings that they have for vets that are doing like B stuff and prescribing.

We actually are going to be working on another chapter in another vet book for 2025. I'm really sorry to the people that came to me with that, I just can't remember, there's a lot of acronyms in their things, but basically it's a vet book about beekeeping, so, yes, we have worked with them a lot.

Jeff: You've talked a little bit about the organization, your training, and your focus, and your communication. Let's talk a little bit about some of your programs, and actually where you're going with the Apiary Inspectors of America. What do you see are your biggest challenges in the rest of 2024 and '25 and beyond besides funding? I imagine funding is a big issue, but we can save that for after this one.

Brooke: The biggest challenge right now in my mind, and it's not us as an organization specifically, but as, there's members of our organization that are involved and how it affects the industry is the yellow legged hornet, and how that's being handled. That's a pretty big challenge right now. I know the apiary inspectors are really working hard to trap as much as they can, and try to eradicate, but that's a huge concern right now.

I guess from an organizational standpoint, trying to think of how we can best support them, because states or states, you stay within your own line, but just trying to figure out a way to support through such a big situation.

Natasha: I was just going to say, it was just a lot of emerging pests and disease, that's just constantly keeping up with it, and how do you adapt to it with your programs? Especially when a program's very small and cash strapped, you have to figure out how you're going to manage this. I think, like Brooke said, that's going to be continually be our focus.

Brooke: Trying to stay ahead of it, I think is where we're trying-- right now, most of the states are, "Okay, we don't have these yet, how can we stay ahead of it?" I think that's the challenge, is to stay ahead of these and have the foresight. We have some great folks on our team writing grants to do more research, to set up sentinel hives, to do more trapping, all this stuff. It takes more work, and more people, and employees and stuff, but it's so important, and we're dedicated to trying to stay ahead of any disasters.

Jeff: What do you see as the biggest threat to the nation's beekeepers at this point?

Natasha: It's kind of a running thing. It's like it's always Varroa, it's always some pest, it's always some disease, it's some disease that the pest brings. I think it's just the multifacet of all those things going against you. You've got climate change which isn't helping things. You've got mites. You've got hornets that want to eat your bees. You've got pesticides using and pro-- there's just so much working against beekeepers at all times, so you just constantly have to figure out what you're going to do to keep the bees alive, and just, that's my answer.

Brooke: I think change is the biggest challenge, because everything's changed, and maybe I'm getting older, and I sound like it now. Everything's changing, and it's so fast. It feels like things are changing really rapidly. Like when Natasha said climate is changing, agriculture is changing, the way we keep bees is changing. I think beekeepers have to adapt really quickly to make changes to stay on top of it, and stay ahead of the curve, and learn how to make adaptations to keep their bees alive, and keep their business going. Change is the constant, and it's probably the biggest challenge I think coming up.

Jeff: Brooke, I'm still stuck on beekeepers have to learn to adapt quickly. That's a foreign concept. I'm still trying to get used to Varroa.

Brooke: I know it's hard, and I don't know how to do it, but I think it's like the beekeepers that I talk to, they're able to adapt, I guess. The beekeepers that are staying ahead of this wave that's coming is like they're making changes, and assessing their management, and what did I do last year, and how can I change it and make it better? Then we have a flood, and it throws everything out the window, but I think not being stagnant in this changing world is the feeling I'm getting is the way to go.

Jeff: To go with your analogy, it's more about riding the wave as opposed to being taken under by the wave. You're surfing the wave-

Brooke: Yes.

Jeff: -of change.

Brooke: Everyone should surf.

Jeff: Yes. Where's that Beach boy song right now when you need it?

Brooke: Fill that in.

Jeff: Well, what haven't we discussed that you would like to tell our listeners about?

Natasha: I'll just give a plug just another time for apiary inspectors that, some people think just because we're regulatory, we're scary. No, we are there to help. We want you to know we're just trying to make sure bees are healthy, and just things are following the rules. It's nothing personal. We're just trying to help here, people. I think a lot of times people might be reluctant to reach out for an apiary inspector if they see something weird and think that, "Oh, they're going to come and take my hives or something," but it's not like that. We're here to help the industry. We're here to help beekeepers. That's what I want people to know.

Jeff: Let me ask you as a follow-up. If I'm sitting in a state say like Minnesota, who does not have a state apiary inspector, and I am an interested beekeeper, and I belong to a group of interested beekeepers who would like to have a state apiary inspector, do you have resources to help plan that, help them work through the process of getting that through the state?

Natasha: Minnesota Department of Ag. I guess then it comes to something weird, we can't lobby or anything. We can be a support, we can tell you what the position needs to entail and stuff. We can be an advocate for it, but we're still state employees. There's some things we can't do.

Jeff: You can't hold the sign up in front of the state capital.

Brooke: We could certainly be supportive, and we have had people reach out to us, "How could I go about doing this? Tell us about your job," just like Natasha said, and we could have support that way, and we'll talk anyone's ear off and give them ideas, but I don't know if we can officially as state employees advocate. I think we have to make sure we stay in our lane.

Jeff: Well understood. It is more about how to set up the governance for the regulatory body to help spur that process along, not necessarily having you call out to someone else's senators.

Natasha: I was just going to say, my program didn't exist. I had to create it. When I was doing this, I went and hung out a lot in Maryland, saw how they did things, read their regs. I did so much research about regs in different states and different cities. I talked to inspectors all over the country just trying to get information to make sure that when I wrote the regs for DC, that they followed the other states, but then they were also specific to a urban setting like DC.

I talked to people in Chicago, I talked to people in New York. Even though we can't like say, "Hey, you need an apiary inspector, we demand one or whatever," we can help people that are trying to build programs by just, information is so important. I was able to build this program from scratch by just from the help from the other apiary inspectors.

Jeff: That does address my question, is that if I was sitting in a state and I wanted to see about starting a state apiary inspector program in my state, I could reach out to AIA, and you could at least point me in the right directions to what's the first step to take and the second step.

Natasha: It was great because they could say these are the things on our regs, and some of these things aren't the best things. They can let you know the things that aren't working, things that are working, things that they think that should be added, which they can't do without a lot of bureaucracy of rewriting stuff, but when you're starting from scratch, you can make sure you put that stuff in your program from the beginning.

Jeff: And learn from others' mistakes.

Becky: I just want to clarify two things.

Brooke: Do you feel picked out?

Natasha: Just to avoid follow-ups. I feel so picked out. No, but Minnesota does not have a registration program, but the Minnesota Department of Ag will provide inspections for people who need to transport their bees, and they have been for quite a while training with the University of Minnesota B Lab, but it's very different than what we're talking about here as far as an apiary program, but the MDA does step in, especially if there's a pesticide kill. They will also do an inspection there and they'll work with the university. That's the first thing.

The other thing is that I want to say that some of my very, very favorite people, beekeepers, were at one point apiary inspectors. I think I can name three of them easily. One of the things that is so important for people to know is that if you go to bee meetings, you will likely see an apiary inspector give a very good talk. You will also meet apiary inspectors, and be able to have those private conversations, ask questions, and learn about the program, and get more support. I think that it's really important that if you have an apiary program, get to know your apiary inspector, because they are such a great resource.

Brooke: Yes. If you do see us at a conference, we will talk your ear off, and most of us are pretty up to date. We read a lot of the research. We listen to all the podcasts because we're in the car all the time.

[laughter]

Brooke: Say hi to us, and we'll talk your ear off. We're really fun, and we pretend like we know a lot of stuff. [chuckles]

Becky: Something good about snacks, I heard.

Brooke: Yes, we like snacks.

Becky: I know where the good snacks are. You have the good snacks.

Jeff: You did say early on that Beekeeping Today Podcast is in your playlist. Isn't that a requirement?

Brooke: Absolutely.

[laughter]

Jeff: Brooke and Natasha, thank you so much for joining us today to describe and tell us about the Apiary Inspectors of America, the important work that you're doing, and we fully support you, and look forward to having you back.

Natasha: Sounds good. Thank you for having us.

Brooke: Great. Thank you.

Becky: Thanks so much.

[music]

Jeff: Becky. I hope you didn't feel picked on sitting there in Minnesota without a state apiary inspector. Don't you feel bad?

Becky: I will tell you that I have heard, I understand both sides of the discussion. There are arguments on both sides. Let's just leave it at that. Except for the fact that, like I said, I'm a huge fan of apiary inspectors. Dennis vanEngelsdorp was an apiary inspector. Mark Dykes, David Westerfeld, these people are gold, lovely people, and smart, smart, smart. I think talking bees with an apiary inspector is one of my most fun things to do.

Jeff: A regular beekeeper, backyard beekeeper, if you will, very few will see as many bees, and as many colonies, and as so many different situations in their lives than a state apiary inspector. Unless you're running a commercial operation, blah, blah, blah, there's so much knowledge there. It is fun to do.

Becky: Oh, I bet they have really good snacks.

Jeff: Oh, they have good snacks.

[laughter]

Becky: They have good snacks, and I bet they have good stories to go with good snacks.

Jeff: Yes, and one of the things they didn't talk about, and of course they couldn't, was the politics involved in a position like that. I don't know if I would honestly have the patience to deal with the regulatory and political games that must be played in that role just to keep funding going, and just to deal with the fiscal comings and goings.

Becky: It's also, you're in a position where you're not becoming an apiary inspector because you're trying to make people's lives difficult. You're doing it because you have a passion to support bee health and beekeepers. Unfortunately, I bet everybody doesn't look at a bee inspector and say, "Hey, you're here to help me, aren't you?" That's why I think they are so much fun. You have to be good with people if you're going to be a bee inspector. You have to be able to forge those relationships, and deal with difficult. You're not difficult. Are you?

Jeff: Oh gosh, no.

Becky: When a bee inspector shows up?

Becky: You're like, "Wait, can we record this?"

Jeff: Is it recording? When you mentioned having the bee inspector show up to your door, the first thing I thought of is doing a cartoon where the bee inspector's saying, "Hey, I'm the State Apiary Inspector, I'm here to look at your bees. My friend here is from the IRS. He's here to help you too." That's not the situation that we're talking about here. A state apiary inspector is a valuable, valuable resource. All kidding aside, is a very valuable resource for all beekeepers.

[00:44:26] Jeff: That about wraps it up for this episode. Before we go, I want to encourage our listeners to follow us and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts wherever you download and stream the show.

Even better, write a review and let other beekeepers looking for a new podcast know what you like. You can get there directly from our website by clicking on the reviews along the top of any webpage. We want to thank our regular episode sponsors, Betterbee, Global Patties, Strong Microbials, and Northern Bee Books for their generous support. Finally and most importantly, we want to thank you the Beekeeping Today Podcast listener for joining us on this show. Feel free to leave us questions and comments at the leave a comments section under each episode on the website. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks a lot, everybody.

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