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Thursday, February 13, 2025 at 7:00PM – 9:00PM (EST)

This is a free event with donations optional. All proceeds go toward beekeeper education, future speaker events, and further development and outreach efforts of the SBGMI. This event is occurring in anticipation of the 2025 4th Annual Virtual Winter Conference on 2.22.25.

The Northern Queen Initiative was officially launched in 2023. However, the SBGMI piloted the program for two years preceding the launch and built on successes and re-tooled potential shortcomings.

Beekeeping cooperatives, queen breeding associations, and programs alike often struggle with sustainability and reach and we will discuss what this program has achieved, looking toward the future, and how to help other programs succeed in the honey bee industry.

The NQI was founded as a 501(c)(3) to provide education and training for interested beekeepers to raise queen bees while improving genetics. The NQI provides all beekeepers with opportunities to participate in queen improvement through a queen rearing program.

Training is focused on proven techniques with access to breeding stock that thrives in Northern cold climates, exhibits good honey production, possesses a calm temperament, and are mite resistant.

James Lee is the President of the Sustainable Beekeepers Guild of Michigan, a virtual educational organization with over 730 local and international members. He is also the founder of the Northern Queen Initiative and owner of James Lee’s Bees in Romulus, MI where he lives with his wife Rachel and their 5 children. James manages 80-100 colonies pursuing sustainability in apiculture and produces nucs and queens with a focus on hardy Northern climate survivors selected for mite-resistance.

 

Donation

Free, $5, $10, $15, $20, $25

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