By Todd Youngblood

Dear Friends,

The Texas Beekeepers Association has just completed another very successful convention. This was one of the biggest conventions that I have attended in the 10 to 12 years that I have been involved with the TBA. I would like to thank the East Texas Beekeepers Association for all of their efforts that they put into this convention. I’d also like to thank all of the presenters and directors that helped to make this convention so successful.
The Honey Bee Facility at Texas A&M University has been completed. The dedication of the Facility will be held in conjunction with the Winter Delegates Meeting on February 20, 2010. Be sure to mark your calendar for this date. It has been a long process, but I am delighted that we have finally reached this point in our relationship with Texas A&M University. We will continue to be involved with suggestions for the work that will take place at the Facility. We have established a Liaison Committee that will be in contact with the Head of the Entomology Department and the Apicultural Research Staff that will be corresponding our ideas to them. Again thank you for all of your support throughout this endeavor.
Also announced at the Convention was the funding of an endowment for Honey Bee Research to be conducted at the Facility. The endowment was funded in the amount of $75,000 dollars by Janice and John Thomas and was named after Nevin Weaver who was a researcher at TAMU in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. As with other endowments, only the interest earned on the principal will be available for spending each year. This amount will vary from year to year, but will be a steady source of revenue for honey bee research and education. Funds like this will be ever more important in the coming years as funding from traditional source become ever more difficult to obtain. Again we owe the Thomases another big Thank-You for their contribution and vision for the Honey Bee Industry.
The weather conditions in South Texas have improved dramatically. We have received generous rain fall since the beginning of September. This should help our prospects for a better honey crop in the spring 2010. I hope your situation is as bright as ours.

Sincerely, Todd Youngblood