The strength and health of bee colonies used for pollination need to be assured both on delivery to the grower, for their capacity to pollinate crops, and on return to the beekeeper. Current practice includes the inspection of colonies by opening a sample of the hives on delivery and return. This task can be expensive and time-consuming, and may increase the risk of spreading or exposing the colony to disease.

This project is developing knowledge about the characteristics of a colony that will deliver effective pollination across different horticulture crops, to enable quality assurance models to be developed for growers and beekeepers alike. The project is also set to test available hive sensing technologies to evaluate if they are fit for purpose.

Field work will be conducted on crops including almonds, avocados and blueberries.