Notes from the Rotary Meeting 12.30pm Thursday, November 3, 2022
President Jackie chaired the meeting.
Lorraine welcomed and introduced Sophie Buchholz. Sophie is attending Grenfell Campus and is a Rotary Global Grant scholar from District 6220. The club is her host club sponsor with Lorraine her primary club Rotarian contact.
Immediately after lunch the first corporate member of the club, Atlantic Cultivation was welcomed and the primary corporate designee, Josh Parsons was inducted into the club. Chris his Rotary sponsor introduced Josh before Verbon officially inducted him into the club with President Jackie presenting him with his Rotary pin. Welcome Josh and Atlantic Cultivation.
The guest speaker, Karen Kennedy, was introduced by Olaf.
Karen is the Fruit Crop Development Officer & Provincial Apiarist for the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture. She talked about her work as the Provincial Apiarist in promoting and protecting Newfoundland's honeybee population, and the importance of a healthy bee population for the Newfoundland agricultural economy. Honeybees are the celebrities of the insect world, beloved for their vital role as pollinators and pitied for being victims of “colony collapse” – an epidemic of mass bee deaths that has caused their populations in North America to dwindle. The province Newfoundland and Labrador has not yet been affected by this threat, thanks to the vigilance of people in Karen’s department, but the threat is always there. The role that honeybees play in the health and well-being of our agricultural economy is so important.
Karen’s presentation was about Beekeeping in the province. She began by speaking about the different honeybee castes in a colony. The colony comprises of a queen bee and worker bees all female and the male drone bee. She spoke of their different roles in a colony before speaking of the growth of the honeybee industry in the province. In 2016 there were 4 commercial apiarists but this year there are 22 commercial apiarists with over 100 hobbyist beekeepers.
Karen went on to discuss the pest free status of Newfoundland She spoke mainly of the Varroa mite that when it enters a colony can quickly decimate it. She spoke about the life cycle of the mite and its role in destroying a colony. She went on to explain the importance of inspections for commercial apiaries, for hobbyists to be registered and signage and legislation prohibiting the importing of bees without a permit. She concluded by stressing the importance of Apiculture education. Karen answered several questions before being thanked by Olaf on behalf of the club.
The next meeting will be held on Saturday, November 12 at 12.30pm at the Glynmill Inn with the District Governor present as well as Rotarians from the West Coast
The meeting was adjourned at 1.40pm