Bayer CropScience Seeks Nominations for 2014 Community Beekeeping Award

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., March 31, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Bayer CropScience today announced it is seeking nominations for its second annual Bee Care Community Leadership Award, which recognizes an individual who has utilized beekeeping to create innovative projects that benefit a community.

The award, an initiative of Bayer's North American Bee Care Program, provides a $5,000 grant to the winner, to be used in support of a community beekeeping project. The winner will also receive an all-expense paid trip to a reception in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 2014, at the U.S. Botanic Gardens during National Pollinator Week.

"Honey bees play a vital role in our food supply because one-third of all the food we eat is pollinated," said Dr. Becky Langer, head of the Bayer North American Bee Care Program. "The support of beekeeping and beekeepers can bring a wide range of benefits to a local community, and we believe these beneficial programs deserve recognition and encouragement."

Last year's Bee Care Community Leadership Award winner, Steve McNair from Flanagan, Ill., created an initiative that encourages at-risk young men to learn about beekeeping. Housed at Salem4youth, the project resulted in many of its young men learning about the complexity of a hive and leaving the program with a newfound interest in keeping bees and understanding the importance of bees to their everyday life.

"Since Salem4youth received the award, the program has had the opportunity to expand its hives and provide our young men with more opportunities to see the inner workings of a honey bee colony," said McNair. "We are continuously grateful for the support and recognition of our apiary program that we receive from Bayer."

The criteria to be considered for the award include:

• Describing a project that leverages the power of a honey bee hive and beekeeping to benefit a community;
• Answering a set of essay questions on the application form; and
• Submitting a letter of reference from an apiarist, community organization or member of a relevant organization, such as a beekeeping association.

Entrants are evaluated by a four-member panel of judges, incuding Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture magazine; Dr. David Tarpy, professor of entomology at North Carolina State University; Darren Cox, national beekeeper of the year and president of Cox Honey of Utah, LLC; and Dick Rogers, entomologist and manager of the North American Bayer Bee Care Center. Individuals interested in applying for the award can obtain an application at www.pollinatorweek.bayer.com. The deadline for submission is May 9, 2014.

The Community Leadership Award is one of several initiatives of the Bayer North American Bee Care Program. Others include:

• Opening a new Bee Care Center at our North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park, N.C. that will serve as a focal point for honey bee health research as well as a meeting facility for a wide range of stakeholders committed to improving honey bee health;
• The Bayer Bee Care Tour, which is traveling to major agricultural schools and other events in seven states to foster collaboration among beekeepers, growers, researchers and others concerned about bee health;
• Opening a new Eastern Bee Care Technology Station in Clayton, N.C., to support the research apiary and work in tandem with broad honey bee health initiatives; and
• Training more than 350 employees as Bee Ambassadors, a field staff training campaign dedicated to cultivating dialogue and awareness around topics related to honey bee management and health.

For more information on Bayer's bee health initiatives, please visit: http://www.bayercropscience.us/our-commitment/bee-health.

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About Bayer CropScience
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, agriculture and high-tech materials. Bayer CropScience, the subgroup of Bayer AG responsible for the agricultural business, has annual sales of EUR 8,819 million (2013) and is one of the world's leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of seeds, crop protection and non-agricultural pest control. The company offers an outstanding range of products including high value seeds, innovative crop protection solutions based on chemical and biological modes of action as well as an extensive service backup for modern, sustainable agriculture. In the area of non-agricultural applications, Bayer CropScience has a broad portfolio of products and services to control pests from home and garden to forestry applications. The company has a global workforce of 22,400 and is represented in more than 120 countries. This and further news is available at: www.press.bayercropscience.com.

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SOURCE Bayer CropScience