Please join the Northeast NJ Beekeepers on March 20th as Bill Ferguson of Ferguson Apiaries will be giving a talk on Raising Buckfast bees & the effects of neonicotinoids on the honeybee.
Bill Ferguson has been keeping bees for over 50 years in Hensall, Canada, the heart of Ontario’s rich agricultural land and the White Bean Capital of Canada. At its peak, Ferguson Apiaries had over 1200 hives, and they presently run about 225 hives for nuc and queen sales.
Ferguson Apiaries exclusively breeds Buckfast bees, originally developed by Brother Adam at the Buckfast Abbey in England. All of the Ferguson Apiaries stock has been produced from the Buckfast line acquired from breeders in Ontario, Denmark, and England. The Ferguson stock has been through the very cold Ontario winters, and has been hygienic tested over the past 20 years. Ferguson Apiaries continually works hard to develop and cultivate the best lines to build gentle, productive, and mite resistant Honeybee stock.
Living in the heart of big agriculture with his wife of 47 years and their three children, Bill has experienced firsthand the effects of neonicotinoids on his hives and the health of his honeybees. Bill is also a member of the Ontario Beekeepers Association, who are pushing for Ontario to become the first government in North America to impose restrictions on the neonicotinoid pesticides.
The Northeast NJ Beekeepers Association meetings are always the third Friday of every month, beginning at 7:30 pm. We meet at Ramapo College, 505 Ramapo Valley Road Mahwah, NJ, in the Anisfield School of Business, Room 135S.