Precision Beekeeping (precision Apiculture): Research Needs and Status in Latvia

Application of information and communication technologies in various agricultural branches is done by using the Precision Agriculture methods and approaches. Beekeeping is old and traditional branch of agriculture where still many manual operations are done to care bee colonies and observe the apiary state and conditions. Information technologies can be used in the beekeeping to partly support the beekeepers by implementation of automatic or semi-automatic solutions for bee colony monitoring. Similar to Precision Agriculture also Precision Beekeeping (Precision Apiculture) is recently defined as an apiary management strategy based on the monitoring of individual bee colonies to minimize resource consumption and maximize the productivity of bees. International scientists and practical beekeepers started to support its development by implementation of various technical systems for automatic and real time bee apiary and colony monitoring. Aim of this paper is to make summary of application of information technologies within beekeepers in Latvia, summarizing Precision Beekeeping development status and conclude about research needs and potential of its future development. To achieve above mentioned aim in cooperation with Latvian Beekeepers Association beekeepers survey is conducted. More than 400 beekeepers shared their thoughts and opinions about possible application of information and communication technologies for monitoring the bee colonies and upgrading the apiary management approach. Summary of conducted survey is described in the paper.