Dear Friends,
Since my last article in the TBA Journal, we have made some tremendous progress in the development of the Honey Bee Research Facility at TAMU. Not only were the plans for the Facility released for bids to contractors, but we received 15 bids on the project. Shortly after the bidding process was closed, they chose one of the contractors and are currently negotiating some of the minor details with them. It looks as though we will have a sufficient amount of funding to complete the facility. We have been kicking around some ground breaking dates, but have not settled on one at this time. I would like to set it for a time when we can have a large gathering of the beekeepers on hand, but during this time of year, that is
difficult. We will keep you informed as best we can.
We have just about completed our spring honey harvest here in south Texas. Surprisingly, we did better than I thought we would. From what I am hearing, I think most beekeepers will make around a 40-60 lb. average. That is not too bad considering the condition of the country here. With the price for white honey still as strong as it is, I think everybody will be happy in the end. We have also began putting our bees into cucumber and watermelon fields at this time. The demand for bees to pollinate is as good as I have seen in a few years, especially for watermelon
pollination. For some reason, watermelon acreage is up in this part of the state and most farmers are wanting more colonies than ever per acre. The going rate for melon pollination seems to be in the $40 to $60 dollar range.

I hope your operation is going well.
Good Luck!

Todd Youngblood,
TBA President