World Bee Day – ApisProtect and Microsoft working to protect honey bees

ApisProtect has joined the Microsoft for Startup program. This strategic partnership will allow ApisProtect to use Microsoft technologies to scale its business for the next 2 years.

Dr Edwards Murphy, CEO of ApisProtect, said, “Our bee monitoring technology will enable beekeepers to manage their apiaries more effectively and focus on cultivating larger and stronger colonies. We are delighted to be working with Microsoft as we scale our company globally over the next two years”.

Dr Edwards Murphy adds, “In many countries, up to 50% of our honey bees are dying every year. A host of problems, diseases, and pests are devastating hive populations around the globe. It’s becoming harder and harder every year for beekeepers to manage the variety of problems their bees are experiencing. By providing beekeepers with insights into what is happening in the hive, we can help beekeepers reduce losses and improve the health of honey bees worldwide.”

Initiatives like World Bee Day help raise the awareness of our pollinators and the vital role they play in food production. In many countries, up to 41% of hives (UN FAO) are dying annually. In the USA, beekeepers lost 40% of their colonies in 2018/2019, the highest in 13 years.

In Ireland alone, we have 98 different species of bee: the honeybee, 20 different bumblebees and 77 different solitary bees. We know that one-third of Irish bee species are threatened with extinction.

Contributing €153 billion worth of pollination to the agri-food industry annually, honey bees play an essential role in global food production. One-third of all food that we eat depends on pollinators, and there are 91 million managed beehives worldwide.

Dr Fiona Edwards Murphy, CEO of ApisProtect, said “Our mission at ApisProtect, is to save the honey bees because if we don’t take action now, we’ll lose our most important insect ally. We want to secure the supply of one-third of our diet, and make sure we can nourish and feed the 9.7 billion people on planet earth by 2050.”

ApisProtect is currently monitoring the strength of twenty million honey bees in Europe, North America, and South Africa. With this new technology, beekeepers will no longer need to rely solely on periodic, manual hive checks that can allow disease, pests and other issues to deteriorate hive health beyond rescue.