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beehive

November 20, 2018

ApisProtect Raises $1.8M to Save the Bees Through IoT

ApisProtect, which uses Internet of Things (IoT) technology to monitor and help keep honeybee colonies healthy, announced today that it has raised a $1.8 million seed round led by Finistere Ventures and Atlantic Bridge Capital.

Based in Cork, Ireland, ApisProtect places sensors in commercial beehives to measure factors like humidity, temperature, sound and more. This data is transmitted back to ApisProtect where it applies machine learning algorithms to create actionable insights for beekeepers, such as if a queen is still alive, if there is a pest, or if a colony is about to swarm.

The ApisProtect sensor itself is about the size of a VHS cassette and uses a combination of radio networks including cellular and satellite communications to ensure that any beehive can be monitored, no matter how remote. “It can work in any beehive anywhere on earth,” Fiona Edwards Murphy Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of ApisProtect, told me in a phone interview.

As we’ve noted before, bee populations are declining. That is a bad thing since, according to the USDA, “One out of every three bites of food in the United States depends on honey bees and other pollinators. Honey bees pollinate $15 billion worth of crops each year, including more than 130 fruits and vegetables.”

ApisProtect has been in trials since the end of this summer and currently monitors more than six million honey bees in 144 hives across Europe and North America. The company is still working on its business model, but it will most likely be a subscription-based model with little up-front costs.

ApisProtect isn’t the only startup building a bee business. Up in Canada, Nectar has also developed a sensor system to monitor bee activity. Elsewhere in the apiary world, Bee Vector Technology is using bees as precision pesticide applicators.

This is the first fundraise for ApisProtect, which will use the money to open an office in Salinas, CA and scale up as quickly as possible to bring the product to market in 2019. With bees playing such a crucial role in our ecosystem, hopefully the work of ApisProtect and others will generate enough buzz to make a difference.

May 8, 2018

Two New Programs Bring Bees to Your Backyard

Somehow, I have found myself on the apiary beat here at The Spoon. This despite my turning into a flailing, cowering wildman at the sight (or buzz) of one. Regardless of my grade school-level fear of getting stung, I recognize how important bees are to our food system, which is why it’s exciting to see two new ways people can bring beehives to their own backyards.

You’ve probably heard the buzz on bees by now: Seventy out of every 100 human food crops are pollinated by bees. In the U.S., bees pollinate 130 agricultural plants, and bee pollination is worth more than $9 billion to U.S. agriculture. And, oh yeah, bees are dying off. Where the U.S. once had six million bee colonies in the 1960s, we now have less than 3 million.

So bees need to make a comeback. To help, MOM’s Organic Market in Maryland is selling a starter beehive. Food Dive reports that the local grocery chain has partnered with Richland Honey Bees to sell a queen bee and nucleus hive (a hive in a box). The starter kits are available online, cost $185 and Maryland residents can pick theirs up at one of four local MOM’s shops there.

If you’re looking for an even more low-tech solution to starting up a beehive, head over to Amazon and pick up Turn This Book Into a Beehive. It’s written by Lynn Brunelle, who used to be a writer for Bill Nye the Science Guy, and is filled with facts and activities about bees. But the big selling point, as the title spells out, is that you can turn it into a beehive by tearing out perforated pages, rolling them up and enclosing them in the book’s jacket and hanging it outside.

While this paper-based solution may not be as high-tech as the Nectar hive sensors, it seems like a good way to assist the pollination process in your own backyard, especially as we head into vegetable gardening season.

Of course, if you are interested in getting more into beekeeping, you should check with your local laws to ensure that your city allows it.

Turning a book into a beehive has turned into my next weekend family project. Thankfully I’ll have my grade school son there to help me get over my elementary fears.

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