BIBBA

Upcoming Webinars ­

BIBBA members will be able to join us live for our winter webinar series and non-members will be able to enjoy the recordings. 

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BBKA EVENTS CALENDER

Associations can list their talks and see
what BBKA are offering.

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BBKA RECORDED TALKS

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NEW HONEY PETITION

Please sign our new honey petition which calls on the Government to change the Honey labelling rules so consumers can easily recognise all countries of origin of the honey contained in a jar sold here in the UK.

Following our members' propositions and direction at the 2021 ADM, this is the second honey petition in our efforts to maintain pressure on the government to address this important issue. If you signed the first petition, please be sure to sign this one too.

The important underlying issue here is ‘Funny’ Honey - i.e  honey that has not necessarily involved a honeybee collecting nectar, processing and storing in the hive.   Supermarket own-label honey can be bought for as little as 69p a jar. Although supermarkets say every jar of honey is “100% pure” and can be traced back to the beekeeper, there is no requirement to identify the countries of origin of honey blended from more than one country.  We want consumers to start looking at the labels when buying honey – does it clearly state the country of origin? If it seems cheap compared to the other honeys on the shelf, ask themselves why?

We kindly ask all members to share the petition link with family and friends and on social media to help us reach our goal of 100,000 signatures which means the Government must consider the issue for debate in Parliament.   The support of the general public and not just the beekeeping community is essential to achieve this result so please share as widely as possible.   

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PESTICIDE 2022 UPDATE

You are probably aware that a derogation has been approved by the Minister for Agriculture allowing the use of a banned pesticide (Cruiser SB: Thiamethoxam, a neonicotinoid) to be used on sugar beet in 2022. This pesticide will be applied to seed as a dressing before planting if a high aphid count is seen. Aphids carry a virus known as Yellows which adversely affects some crops.

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The BBKA is totally opposed to the use of this and similar pesticides due to their effecton on not only the honey bees but other pollinators, and the wider environment.  The BBKA has considered the use of the HMG Petition system, however with a decision due on the 1st March 2022, we believe that suffiicient time does not exist for a petition to be raised. 

As this matter is urgent, will you please register your opposition to   the use of this type of chemical by signing any petition which opposes the use of any of such damaging pesticides.

A petition has been started  on the government website. Enough signatures on this link forces the government to discuss it in the House of Commons.

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Active Petitions include:

Greenpeace

Party.coop

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The ‘precautions’ for the use of this chemical to ‘protect’ pollinators is to ban any flowering crops (or ground cover) in the soil where this treated seed is used for a period of 32 months following the crop planting and the use of herbicides to prevent flowering of any weeds (wildflowers?).

Therefore, there cannot be any forage for Bees or other Pollinators for 3 years in any land used to grow crops treated with this chemical. This will be effectively at best a green monoculture with no forage for any pollinator. If any pollinators survive they will STARVE.

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Please express your opposition to the use of this chemical by supporting any suitable petition and writing to your MP. You can find the contact details for your MP by using the link and entering your postcode.