Queen Bee: Berry turns a sweet hobby into research & impact

 Jennifer Berry has always been interested in insects. As a child, she would spend time in the woods behind her house, fascinated by the multi-legged life that lived among the trees.

In summers, Berry visited her grandparents’ Missouri farm, where her grandfather would take her to a buzzing tree to collect bits of honeycomb. After safely smoking out some of the bees, he would hold Berry up to see the hive and take a couple of small combs for them to enjoy.

“I always wanted more,” she said.

But her grandfather, a steward of the environment, explained how hard the bees worked to create the honeycombs and taught Berry the values of moderation and preservation.

She was also interested in drama and, for a brief period, thought she might make it big in Hollywood. She headed west for the bright lights of Los Angeles for a time but, like bees that rarely travel too far from the hive, Berry found comfort returning home to family and her childhood passion.

Attending the University of Georgia, Berry took her first beekeeping course with College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences (CAES) Professor Keith Delaplane. The rest, as they say, is history.

“I thought, oh my god, I’m going to do this the rest of my life,” Berry said.

After obtaining her degree, Berry landed a unique position with CAES. The college was constantly fielding requests from Georgia beekeepers for a research coordinator who had an Extension appointment. Thus, her job—50% research and 50% Extension—was born.

Now, Berry is an apicultural research professional, lab manager for the UGA Bee Program, an educator—and, most recently, an entrepreneur.

A mite-y problem
Berry’s research is typically very applied. Throughout her career, she has focused on queen breeding, sub-lethal effects of pesticides on beneficial insects, and pest management techniques for varroa and small hive beetle control. A varroa mite is a parasitic mite that infests honey bee colonies, feeding on the bees and transmitting viruses, which can lead to the decline and collapse of the colony. They are one of the most damaging honeybee pests in the world.

Recently, Berry has worked on improving honey bee health and finding the best ways to plant in non-traditional horticultural landscapes to enhance pollinator populations and diversity.

“It’s questions that beekeepers come up with,” she said. “Like, ‘Does powdered sugar kill varroa mites? Or does bottom-supering or top-supering do better?’”

Supers, short for superstructure, refers to boxes placed on a beehive for bees to store honey. Top or bottom-supering can impact the production of honey by the brood.

Part of her Ph.D. focuses on methods to control varroa mites, the western honeybee’s most devastating pest. The mites’ natural host is the Asian honeybee, but as humans brought European honeybees into Asia, the mite found a weaker host with no natural defenses. Research suggests this host shift happened over about 50-100 years and, in the time since, the mite has spread, collapsing honeybee colonies around the world.

The mites consumed fat body tissue from the bees, decreasing their life span and sometimes altering their behavior. They also transmit many viruses to the bees, infesting and often destroying whole colonies.

“That’s the real killer,” Berry said. “Viruses have always been around, but they have been benign until varroa came into the picture.”

Through her research, Berry wants to offer options for beekeepers to reduce varroa infestation.

Hives and hopes
The other half of Berry’s role is teaching and promoting good beekeeping practices around Georgia and the world.

Over the years, she has assisted organizations like Farmer to Farmer, where she would travel to instruct beekeepers from across the United States, Europe, and South America. She teaches skills necessary for beekeeping, often correcting bad information.

“We think of bees as somewhat domesticated because we’re taking care of them,” Berry said. “But they’re still wild and they’re going to do their own thing. As much as we think we know about them, they shift the rules all the time.”

It’s not as simple as taking your cat or dog to the vet. Many apiarists look to their local or state clubs for help when their colony suffers. This is where Berry comes in, applying her own research to improve information on pest management.

One project close to her heart is the Georgia Prison Beekeeping Program, which started at Glennville’s Smith State Prison in 2012. The UGA Bee Program began its support shortly thereafter in 2015. The first class saw 15 students certified through the Georgia Master Beekeeping Program. Now, it has expanded to eight prisons, with well over 200 participating and certified inmates.

The students’ passion for beekeeping and learning is gratifying, Berry said.

“So many of these students had to be taught to read to take the exam,” she said. “Once they realized they can pass a junior level UGA exam and make an A, they’re like, ‘Get out of my way!’”

Many have gone on to obtain GEDs, and some have continued into other educational programs. Several others have gone on to become beekeepers themselves following their release.

“It’s one of our most popular programs because he’s so compassionate about teaching as many people as he possibly can,” said Berry of an inmate who is now master beekeeper at Hancock State Prison. “He can give these guys hope and options when they get out.”

Now that Berry has completed her Ph.D., she’s working with the Georgia Beekeeper Association to expand the program across the Southeast. They’re developing a training manual, resource list, and starter kit that would include a hive and other necessary materials.

Distilling community
Berry’s husband Mark Davis, a Marine Corps veteran and CAES graduate, enjoys turning raw materials into finished products, whether blacksmithing, soap making, fermenting, or distilling. One day it occurred to him that he could try making whiskeyusing the honey from their bee colonies as a sugar source.

“He created this whiskey, and we sampled it and let other people taste it,” Berry said. “They were like, ‘This is fantastic! You need to open a distillery.’”

After early struggles, the pair found a building in downtown Comer, Ga., opening the Soldier of the Sea Distillery in early 2023.

A revitalization effort was underway in Comer, and the distillery breathed new life into the town. New restaurants are opening, buildings are being sold and new businesses coming in, and a garden club has been created. Comer recently adopted a new town motto: “Comer is blooming.”

“The Honey Pond Garden Club, which she is a founding member, has planted 15 trees, several shrubs throughout town, and pollinator garden around the Travel Museum. And this year Comer was initiated into Tree City, USA,” Berry said. “I’m not saying it all happened because of the distillery, but it was the perfect timing.”

Soldier of the Sea also has a family and dog-friendly pub called The Hive. Berry took inspiration from her travels across Europe, wanting to bring that same sense of camaraderie and community the pub culture in Europe offers.

“That’s what I’ve loved watching at our pub, people meeting people they never would have had the opportunity to meet otherwise” Berry said. “I have a group of friends that we’re having dinner with, and there’s going to be 12 people at my house that I met at the pub. They’re my neighbors, and I never would’ve met them otherwise.”

Like her grandfather, Berry has become a steward to the environment and her community. She cares for honeybees and spreads knowledge to people some in society might have given up on, and she’s helping create a place of togetherness and bringing beauty back to the town she calls home.

–Brandon Ward, University of Georgia