The creation in 1814 by the Russian beekeeper P.I. Prokopovich of a frame hive made it possible to put into practice rational methods for keeping bees. The inventions of artificial wax (I. Mering, Germany) and honey extracts (F. Grushka, Czech Republic) that followed in the first half of the 19th century paved the way for industrial beekeeping.
A brief excursion into history
In the next hundred years, the frame bee hive completely replaced the sides, decks and hollows. The prominent scientist and chemist A. M. Butlerov, beekeeper-enthusiasts I. E. Shavrov, S. K. Krasnoperov promoted advanced techniques and techniques.
In Russia, industrial beekeeping has become an independent branch of agriculture thanks to the efforts of the talented organizer, journalist and teacher Abram Yevlampievich Titov, founder and long-term editor of the journal “Beekeeping”. Inspired by the works and example of the leading American beekeeper Amos Root, in 1911 in the village of Borshchagovka, Kiev province, Titov founded the first apiary nursery in the empire. Before the October Revolution, there were about 200 beekeeping associations in the country, 15 specialized periodicals were published.
In the young Soviet Republic, Abram Yevlampievich continued his research and production activities as the head of the Izmailovsky experimental apiary. According to his project, in 1929, the first beekeeping state farm was created in the Far East. In subsequent years, such enterprises began to operate in Central Asia, Kabardino-Balkaria, and the Kuban.
Current state
The collapse of the Soviet Union had a negative impact on the industry. The giant part of state and industrial farms was liquidated. Industrial beekeeping in Russia is hardly recovering its lost positions, but it is impossible to talk about powerful and full-fledged functioning.
The urgent question is to improve legal protection and create a large-scale system of administrative regulation. There is a shortage of highly qualified personnel for beekeeping, effective and ambitious managers who can breathe new life into the industry.
The material and technical base needs a radical update. Work on the apiary should be mechanized and automated if possible, which will certainly have a beneficial effect on increasing production volumes and the competitiveness of Russian beekeeping products on the world market. The country has the potential and resources to squeeze industry giants: USA, Australia, Canada.
Size matters?
Is industrial beekeeping the only difference between amateur beekeeping? As for any production, its main goal is to maximize the production of goods of the required quality (honey and related products) with minimal material and time costs. The most important factors for increasing profitability and growth rates are specialization and concentration.
The concentration of beekeeping implies the expansion of farms to optimal sizes. A profitable farm should contain a minimum of 500 bee colonies.
Specialization is determined by the climatic zone:
- The southern regions of the country are a breeding area (supply of package bees, bees).
- Far East, Ural region - honey (honey, wax).
- The Far North - pollination (pollination of crops in greenhouse complexes), etc.
In addition, all parts of the technological chain (equipment and inventory, buildings, methods and techniques) are subjected to strict standardization and unification. In many respects, the success of the enterprise depends on the right choice of bee breed and productive breeding work. The "man - bee" relationship is completely rationalized, there is no room for "lyrics" - only business calculation.
Zones of developed beekeeping
On the study and determination of the potential volume of melliferous resources of the area, its availability, the correct choice of the direction of specialization of the economy depends on its profitability and successful development.
In the forests of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and the Primorsky Territory, the main honey plants are various varieties of linden. In the most favorable years, honey collection can reach up to 20 kg per family.
In mixed forests and meadow forbs of the European part of Russia, a bee hive is able to produce up to 3 kg of honey per day, in the southern regions on crops of buckwheat, essential oil crops - up to 6 kg. The forage base of the area should provide not only honey collection, but also periods of intensive development and build-up of family strength.
Honey resources alone will not allow the cultivation of beekeeping on an industrial scale. What needs to be changed in approaches and methods?
Industrial Beekeeping Technologies
The use of advanced techniques for breeding bees is possible only in large apiaries (from 500 families), where the use of mechanization will bring a tangible effect. In more powerful farms, the entire composition of the apiary is divided into economic units (500-600 hives) and a qualified specialist with an assistant is assigned to each, the necessary materials and tools (beekeeper's suit, smoker, chisel, etc.) are allocated. After wintering and a cleansing flight of bees, the primary processing is carried out at the base, and units are transported to a spring bribe (no more than 100 hives per point). At the central estate there is only a repair link (2-3 people) servicing and keeping equipment and equipment for beekeeping in good condition.
For the entire apiary, a single group care system is used with a reduced number of examinations throughout the season. Specialists of the Scientific Research Institute of Beekeeping perform the following minimum of work (along the way, the strength of families is aligned to give uniformity):
- spring inspection and feeding of bees,
- layering
- installation of shops or additional buildings,
- selection of marketable honey, reduction of nests,
- preparation for wintering.
To determine the timing, only 10-20 apiary bee colonies are examined, the test hive is taken into account. Choosing the main breed of bees, they prefer a less greedy and highly productive, most adapted to local conditions.
During the season, at least 3-4 transportation of the apiary to flowering meadows will be organized to increase profitability.
Material and technical base
For the central estate, they choose an area with a developed infrastructure, with good access roads. Outbuildings (the main production room, a storage facility, a winter hut) should be located taking into account the ease of use, equipped with car ramps and hoisting mechanisms. The capacity of the fleet of vehicles should meet the needs of the enterprise for on-farm transportation.
When equipping an apiary, special attention is paid to the selection of beehives. They should have standard sizes and interchangeable elements (cases, shops, frames for beehives). A robust and lightweight construction is required that can withstand multiple handling operations when moving and roaming.
Beekeeping equipment, apparatus for mechanized pumping of honey, wax processing equipment (presses, centrifuges, steam generators) are purchased in the right amount.
The organization of our own carpentry workshop with good machine tools and specialists will quickly pay back the invested funds.
Unfortunately, many beekeeping products on the market today are obsolete. Often, enterprise engineers have to redo and upgrade existing equipment themselves. For example, for the preparation of honey-sugar mass an industrial mixer is used, for the distribution of syrup - a modified fifty-frame honey extractor, etc.
Labour Organization
At large beekeeping enterprises, the link method has become widespread, in which a team of 2-6 people is assigned to each apiary containing from 500 to 1000 families. A more qualified and experienced specialist is appointed as a link and bears material responsibility. Two forms of work are successfully practiced:
- Cooperation of labor. When carrying out large-scale works (transportation of apiaries, pumping out honey) for efficient and high-quality performance, the efforts of the links are combined.
- Division of labor. Each employee brings automatism to the execution of a certain technological process (for example, augmentation of the framework) - it develops a narrow specialization.In order to increase efficiency, certain standards are established for each link, and strict records are kept of output, expendable materials and resources. It is advisable to practice combining professions and duties (beekeeper-driver, tractor driver; beekeeper-carpenter, etc.).
Industrial beekeeping is unthinkable without constant training and staff development. Production courses are the most affordable form of improvement. They are held in the winter by a senior livestock specialist with the involvement of teachers from specialized educational institutions.
With periodicity, groups of students are enrolled in beekeeping courses (theoretical studies and practice) at the Agricultural Academy. Timiryazev, Academy of Biotechnology named after Scriabin (Moscow), on the basis of the Perm Pedagogical University, Pskov Agricultural College.
Product Types and Sales Problems
The results of the industry demonstrate that along with production, there are a lot of problems of an economic nature.
More than 80% of the farm’s profit comes from the sale of marketable honey, the healing properties of which have been known since ancient times. Wax is in demand as a raw material in the metallurgical, paint and varnish and printing industries, but the lion's share of the product (more than 70%) is returned to the industry in the form of artificial wax.
Significant reserves of profitability of the industry lie in the development of technologies for the production, storage and processing of propolis, bee bread, bee venom and trimmings, royal jelly and drone larvae homogenate used in cosmetology and pharmaceuticals.
In addition, at the enterprises of the intelligence sector, the bees themselves also act as goods - up to 50% of the profit of the economy in the South of Russia is obtained from the sale of bees and packages.
Will abroad help us?
Foreign commercial beekeeping is characterized by high productivity and intensification of production. Legal and material and technical conditions favor the use and improvement of standard standard technologies and equipment, and, as a result, the compliance of all received products with strict international criteria.
Industrial beekeeping in many countries receives substantial subsidies from the state and enjoys comprehensive support. For example, the US government has introduced customs duties on imported honey (for China up to 180%, Argentina - up to 60%). Funds allocated by American importers of honey (up to $ 300 million a year) are used to support domestic producers.
The experience of Canadian colleagues will be useful for Russian industrialists. The productivity of the bee colony in this country is more than twice higher than the world average results.
Great importance is attached to the improvement and expansion of the assortment of the company producing goods for beekeeping. On the market are automatic lines for printing honeycombs and pumping honey, centrifuges and tanks, equipment for analyzing the quality of honey. The attention even to trifles is pleasing: the suit of the beekeeper "Sheriff" of the Danish company "Sventi" is distinguished by a high degree of protection, convenience, and durability.
Development prospects. Beekeeping Innovations
Competition to western counterparts may be the development of the staff of the Ryazan Agrarian University in the field of mechanization and new methods of processing products of the beekeeping industry, including:
- technology and equipment for the extraction and drying of bee bread,
- propolis cleaning and pressing complex,
- technology for the preparation of pasty dressing in a wax shell.
Most of the equipment has already been launched into serial production. Technologies are being actively mastered by apiary farms.
Good prospects are associated with the use of artificial plastic wax, innovative hives (from polystyrene foam and certain varieties of polystyrene), the use of thermal film to build up the strength of bee colonies.
The revolutionary technology for product collection was introduced by Australian beekeepers. It is based on a completely new frame design for beehives and the bee’s “home” itself. When filling the honeycomb with honey, it’s worth opening the tap, and the product drains on its own into the container set up under the hive.
Many ideas and techniques are proposed, sometimes almost absurd. Which of them will take root and will benefit beekeeping and beekeepers, time will tell.