by Amina Harris, Director, Honey and Pollination Center, UC Davis
(with input from Kent Bradford, Interim Faculty Director, World Food Center)

Questions have been raised with respect to whether honey produced by bees that might visit genetically modified crop plants should also be considered to be GMO. First, what is a “GMO”?

Defining the term “Genetically Modified Organism” (GMO):

John Mola, a fourth-year doctoral student in the Neal Williams lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, won the graduate student research poster competition at the fourth annual UC Davis Bee Symposium for his work on  "Bumble Bee Movement and Landscape Genetics."  He received the $850 cash prize.

World renowned animal behaviorist, Thomas D. Seeley will address his latest interest, Darwinian Beekeeping, during the 4th Annual Bee Symposium at UC Davis, March 3rd. Presented by both the Honey and Pollination Center as well as the Department of Entomology and Nematology, this year’s program will focus on issues and interests of backyard beekeepers.

Mead is popular. The industry is growing quickly. A new meadery is opening every three days here in the United States. It is time to learn about all the nuances this ancient and beautiful beverage holds. The Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute, UC Davis is hosting ‘The Styles and Nuances of Mead’, February 9 and 10, 2018.

Show me the honey!

You've probably tasted wine in California's acclaimed Wine Country, but have you ever tasted honey in the nation's rapidly growing “Honey Country”—the University of California, Davis?

Now you can.

"The bee hive is the ultimate home sweet home," Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, told the crowd at the Western Apicultural Society's 40th annual conference, held in early September at UC Davis.

She's right. Just as birds maintain a "home tweet home," honey bees and honey connoisseurs insist on a "home sweet home."

For the past nine months, the Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute, UC Davis, has been studying the many facets of honey: flavor, aroma, color, pollen and nutrition. The Center has established and trained a honey sensory panel within the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology. After an initial training, the panel tasted and scored three varietal honeys with samples produced from across the country.

For the past nine months, the Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute, UC Davis, has been studying the many facets of honey: flavor, aroma, color, pollen and nutrition. The Center has established and trained a honey sensory panel within the UC Davis Department of Food Science and Technology. After an initial training, the panel tasted and scored three varietal honeys with samples produced from across the country.

“It takes two million individual blossoms to produce a pound of honey,” explains Zac Browning, owner of Browning’s Honey Company in Jamestown, North Dakota. On a June morning, his hives are humming. The little sacs on the bees’ hind legs are bright yellow with pollen from dandelion, clover, and other wild plants blooming around the apiary.

The Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s Graduate Student Poster contest at the annual Bee Symposium held May 7, 2017. The Symposium, hosted by the Center and the Department of Entomology and Nematology at UC Davis, is underwritten by the Springcreek Foundation.