Evaluating and mitigating European foulbrood disease in honey bee colonies pollinating specialty crops to enhance and sustain pollination

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) used by commercial pollinators face additional stresses involved with transportation, environmental changes, chemical exposure, and lack of forage. As of 2024, these conditions have led to a reported outbreak of European Foulbrood (EFB) disease among hives from commercial pollinators providing services to early season specialty crops, particularly blueberries (Vaccinium section Cyanococcus) . Losses incurred from EFB infestations in their hives have led to some commercial pollinators to opt out of providing their services to these specialty crops. To further complicate matters the causative agent of EFB outbreaks, the bacterium Melissoccus plutonius, appears in Oregon to be an aggressive and highly virulent group of atypical variants, leading to devastating impacts to infected colonies. High prevalence and intensity of EFB seen in honey bee colonies pollinating early season specialty crops is an emerging threat to beekeepers and specialty crop growers. Due to these series of variables and an expected increase in produce demand, growers and beekeepers are anxious for a solution to this problem before this creates a significant impact on an already stressed market. To answer these issues, Oregon State University is conducting a longitudinal study in collaboration with three other universities to determine conditions associated with EFB outbreaks. This poster discusses the details of the study, an analysis of data collected during the first year, and discusses current and future work being conducted during and after the survey.