Future of Beekeeping
Varroa Resistance 2033
Shaping the Future of Beekeeping Together
For decades, the Varroa mite has posed one of the greatest challenges in beekeeping. Despite intensive research, new treatment methods, and the great efforts of beekeepers, it remains one of the most common causes of colony losses.
Almost every beekeeper is aware of the potential consequences of increasing Varroa pressure: weakened bee colonies, increased susceptibility to viral diseases, and, in the worst case, the total collapse of a colony.
While combating the Varroa mite has focused mainly on different treatment methods for many years, a shift in thinking is occurring across Europe.
Instead of solely developing new treatment options, another question is gaining prominence:
How can we support bee colonies that naturally cope better with the Varroa mite?
This is precisely the goal of the European initiative Varroa Resistance 2033.
A Joint Vision for Europe
In 2022, European beekeeping associations, bee institutes, and breeding organizations came together to formulate a common goal:
By 2033, the goal is to create the conditions for building as comprehensively as possible a more Varroa-resistant honeybee population across Europe.
This aim will be achieved through targeted selection, foundation breeding, and the dissemination of suitable genetics. The path does not lie in a single new treatment method or a single breeding line. Instead, the natural resilience of the honeybee should be progressively improved over many generations.
The initiative expressly targets not only professional breeding operations, bee institutes, or mating stations.
Long-term success depends on as many beekeepers as possible participating, documenting their observations, and integrating them into their breeding decisions.
Since the future of beekeeping is not created only in labs or research projects. It is created at thousands of apiaries across Europe.
Foundation Breeding Begins at Your Own Apiary
Every beekeeper has colonies that develop differently.
Some colonies remain vital and stable throughout the season. Others require significantly more attention, react more sensitively to external influences, or have higher Varroa pressure.
These differences are crucial for foundation breeding.
The goal is not to produce perfect bee colonies in a short period. Instead, it is about recognizing those colonies over many generations that show particularly stable and favorable traits under comparable conditions.
If consistently robust colonies are selected for breeding and more susceptible colonies are not propagated, the resilience of a population can improve in the long term.
Not individual top breedings alone change the bee population. Long-term progress is made by many beekeepers who carefully observe and make conscious breeding decisions year after year.
- selectively propagate robust and vital colonies
- do not use conspicuous or susceptible colonies for breeding
- requeen the worst third of the apiary every year
- document developments over longer periods
- base decisions on traceable observations
- think long-term and over multiple generations
The Biggest Problem is the Lack of Comparability
In practice, many beekeepers already document their Varroa counts, treatments, and observations today.
Often, however, this information remains individual entries in a notebook, hive card, or spreadsheet.
A varroa board check here.
A powdered sugar roll or alcohol wash there.
A treatment a few weeks later.
Each record provides valuable information. However, when viewed individually, it is often just a snapshot.
What often lacks is a coherent and traceable overall evaluation.
How does the Varroa pressure of a colony develop over the entire season?
What impact did a documented treatment have?
Which colony remains stable in similar conditions in the long term?
Which colonies repeatedly show favorable development?
And which queen should preferably be used for breeding?
Such questions can only be answered when measurements, treatments, and observations are systematically documented and viewed in their chronological context.
Not a Single Measurement Decides
An individual value is always just a snapshot. What matters is the overall progression, the measurement method used, documented treatments, and the conditions at the respective apiary.
Good Breeding Needs Good Data
A varroa board check provides clues about the natural mite drop.
A powdered sugar roll or alcohol wash can make the current infestation level more visible.
A documented treatment shows when and with what measure the development was intervened.
Only when this information is connected does a more comprehensive picture emerge.
A colony may have a low Varroa infestation on one day and show a completely different development a few weeks later. Conversely, even a single increased measurement does not allow for a definitive evaluation of the colony.
What matters is not a single figure but the development over a longer period.
This long-term perspective forms an important basis for sound decisions in foundation breeding.
This is Where bee-pilot.io Comes In
With the new Varroa module in bee-pilot.io, we have developed a tool to practically support the ideas and goals of Varroa Resistance 2033 in daily beekeeping.
Our app aims to help integrate the core ideas of the initiative into daily practice.
Because informed selection begins with clean documentation. We want to make this documentation as easy, understandable, and transparent as possible.
Measurements, treatments, and developments are not only stored but linked in time, evaluated, and clearly presented.
This creates an as objective as possible data basis, with which the development of individual colonies can be tracked over longer periods and compared within one’s own population.
Digital documentation does not replace experience or beekeeping expertise. However, it can reveal connections often hidden in individual notes, hive cards, or spreadsheets.
The Varroa Module at a Glance
The Varroa module was developed to consolidate relevant information about a colony in one central place.
The system captures and links, among other things:
- all documented Varroa measurements
- different measurement methods
- documented treatments
- the temporal course of infestation
- the current infestation development
- forecasts based on captured measurements and progressions
- the complete history of each individual colony
This results not just in a collection of individual data points but a coherent documentation that allows developments to be better understood.
Instead of comparing various notes, spreadsheets, or hive cards, the relevant information is readily available in one place.
Not a single measurement decides.
The Entire Progression is What Counts.
From Data to Informed Decisions
Sustainable foundation breeding thrives on traceable and as objective as possible decisions.
Not every strong colony is automatically suitable for breeding. Similarly, a single Varroa measurement does not yet allow reliable conclusions about a colony’s long-term development.
Only when observations are compared over months or even several years does a more meaningful overall picture emerge.
In doing so, the following questions, among others, can be considered:
- Which colonies develop particularly stably under comparable conditions?
- Which colonies show favorable infestation development over longer periods?
- How does Varroa pressure change after documented treatments?
- Which queens repeatedly produce vital and productive offspring?
- Which colonies should be selected for breeding?
Such questions are at the heart of systematic foundation breeding.
The Varroa module aims to help make these developments transparent and support the beekeeper in their decisions.
The final assessment and resulting breeding decision always remain the responsibility of the beekeeper.
Comparing Colonies Sensibly
Every bee colony develops individually.
Weather, forage availability, location, colony strength, queen age, and many other factors influence the course of a season.
Therefore, it is important not to view individual measurements in isolation and to make comparisons under similar conditions whenever possible.
Only the entirety of all documented information allows a more meaningful assessment of a colony’s development.
Those who observe their colonies over an extended period recognize patterns that may not be visible from a single check.
Which colony consistently develops stably?
Which shows favorable progress over several months?
Which queen repeatedly produces vital and high-performing offspring?
These questions can be better answered when observations are systematically documented and transparently evaluated.
This is precisely where bee-pilot.io aims to provide support.
A Tool That Grows with Beekeepers
We do not view our Varroa module as a finished product.
It is a tool we want to continuously develop alongside the needs and experiences of beekeepers.
New scientific insights.
New evaluation possibilities.
New practical experiences.
All of this should be incorporated into future development.
New documentation functions, additional evaluation possibilities, and feedback from beekeepers should be gradually considered.
Our goal is to provide beekeepers with an increasingly powerful tool that makes foundation breeding understandable, transparent, and accessible to as many people as possible.
At the same time, the application should remain practical and usable directly at the apiary.
Every Beekeeper Can Help
Varroa Resistance 2033 can only succeed if as many beekeepers as possible participate.
Not everyone will establish their own breeding lines, participate in performance testing, or operate an extensive breeding program.
But every beekeeper can contribute by recognizing the most robust colonies in their population, carefully documenting their development, and selectively propagating suitable queens.
Every careful documentation enhances understanding of their own population.
Every consciously made breeding decision can contribute to more resilient bee colonies in the long term.
This is precisely where bee-pilot.io sees its role.
We want to simplify necessary documentation, reveal connections, and support informed decisions based on a traceable data foundation.
Because good breeding starts with good data.
Our Contribution to the Future of Beekeeping
We are convinced that digital tools can make an important contribution to the future of beekeeping.
Not by replacing beekeeping experience.
But by preparing information in an understandable way, making developments visible, and facilitating informed decisions.
With bee-pilot.io, we want to provide a platform that reduces daily documentation effort while enabling structured evaluation.
This creates a reliable data foundation step by step, which can be valuable both for one’s own operation and for a long-term oriented foundation breeding.
Our aspiration is to provide a tool that practically supports the goals of Varroa Resistance 2033 and makes it easier for as many beekeepers as possible to actively participate in foundation breeding.
Not through complicated evaluations.
But through understandable, objective, and practical support directly at the apiary.
Conclusion
Varroa Resistance 2033 represents a common European vision: more resilient honeybees through consistent selection, foundation breeding, and collaboration with as many beekeepers as possible.
The path begins not only in scientific institutions or professional breeding operations.
It begins at each individual apiary.
With every observation.
With every documented measurement.
And with every consciously made breeding decision.
bee-pilot.io aims to provide the appropriate digital toolbox for this purpose.
We want to simplify daily documentation, make developments visible, and support informed decisions.
Because when many beekeepers systematically observe their colonies over years, document them traceably, and selectively propagate robust colonies, the foundation for more resilient honeybees in Europe emerges step by step.
Good breeding does not start with assumptions. It starts with good data.
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