What's new with Better-B ?

Save the date: Better-B public event on 23 Oct 2025

Our next public event will take place on 23 Oct 2025 in Marchamalo, Spain and online. Join us to learn about our novel tool for food resources, get ...

Better-B public event around the corner - 12 June 2025, 15h30

Our next Better-B public event is just around the corner: Join us online for our upcoming Better B public event where we’ll be sharing the ...

Effect of coatings radiative properties on the temperature of a Dadant hive, news from the CoActions team

The Better-B CoActions team is just back from the congrés de la Société Francais de Thermique (Chambery, 3-6 June 2025). The poster provides ...

The key to resilient beekeeping is to harness the power of nature to restore harmony and balance inside the honey bee colony and between the colony and the environment

The overall aim of this 4-year Better-B project is to improve the resilience of beekeeping to abiotic stresses such as climate change, habitat loss and hazardous chemicals. Honey bee colonies are often poorly adapted to cope with these stresses, in no small part due to modern beekeeping practices.

The key to resilient beekeeping is to harness the power of nature to restore harmony and balance inside the honey bee colony and between the colony and the environment, both of which have been disturbed by human activities.

We believe that the path to harmony and balance is shown by Darwinian colonies: abandoned colonies and feral colonies that have survived in the wild. However, such colonies usually lack many favorable characteristics that are important in modern beekeeping. The solution here is to understand the processes and mechanisms that apply in nature and to adapt modern beekeeping practices and decision making accordingly, and when appropriate using the benefits of advanced technologies.

This is what Better-B stands for. The implementation of this new approach in apicultural management will be done in close collaboration with the actors involved. The restoration of harmony and balance must take place on three levels: the environment, the honey bee and beekeeping practices.

Watch our "Inside the Better-B hive" video series

Better-B has received funding from the European Union, the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government's Horizon Europe funding guarantee (grant number 10068544).

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Research Executive Agency (REA), SERI or UKRI. Neither the European Union nor the granting authorities can be held responsible for them.

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