Start 2025 on a proactive note! Join the Orange County Beekeepers Association on Jan. 9 for a look back at beekeeper learnings from 2024 and ahead to challenges facing our bees in 2025. Apiary Inspector Don Hopkins will share his expertise and insights from working with beekeepers in 12 NC counties and beyond.

Bring a savory or sweet snack to share at 6 pm. Hive Talk at 6:30 pm will focus on what’s happening in our apiaries now. Our program begins at 7 pm and there will be a short business update afterward. This meeting will be in-person only at Orange County offices of the NC Cooperative Extension at 1020 US Highway 70 West in Hillsborough.

Don has been keeping bees since he was 10 years old and started work at the NC Department of Agriculture in 1989. Today he supervises 5 other inspectors working for the NCDA & Consumer Services (NCDA&CS), Plant Industry Division, Plant Protection Section, Apiary Services. He oversees Alamance, Caswell, Durham, Forsyth, Granville, Guilford, Orange, Person, Rockingham, Stokes, Vance, and Wake counties.

The inspectors’ purpose is to promote and protect the state’s beekeeping industry. The Apiary Program provides disease and disorder inspections and fumigation services in an effort to control diseases and pests of the beekeeping industry. Additionally, the Apiary Program provides educational workshops to educate the state’s beekeepers on the biology and treatment of mite and disease pests of honey bees and africanized bees. More information is available at: https://www.ncagr.gov/divisions/plantindustry/plant-protection/plant-industry-apiary-services.