SICAMM Conference 2012
"Towards a Bright Future with the Dark Bee"
In September of this year, the Swiss Mellifera Beekeepers Association organizes the next SICAMM Conference (International Association for the Protection of the European Dark Bee) in Switzerland under the above cited motto. The conference location is the Agricultural Centre for Education and Consulting Plantahof, Landquart. The town is located in the Canton of Graubünden (Grisons) at the entrance to the famous resort areas of Davos, where the WEF takes place every year, and St. Moritz, the meeting point of many illustrious guests from the whole world. Landquart can easily be reached by train, also from Zurich-Airport. The surrounding area is the home of “Heidi”, the well known little girl in the children’s book of Johanna Spyri. The alpine pastures are covered with flowers and invite for recreative hiking-tours.
The history of the Plantahof is very interesting. It goes back to an estate of a wealthy citizen of the Grisons, a confectioner living in St. Petersburg, Russia, who founded it in 1811. In 1885 Rudolf von Planta, the owner of the estate at that time, made a legacy to the Canton of the Grisons, with the obligation to use it as an Agricultural School. Today, the school covers the needs of the agricultural sector in an optimal way. It encompasses training of the young farmers, animal breeding, crop production, continuous education and extension services. In order to fulfil these tasks, modern well equipped lecture rooms were established which can also be used for conferences. During school vacation, we can rent the facilities for our Conference, including the boarding rooms and the conference halls. And the bees have a solid place at the school! Basic courses are offered for young beekeepers, courses for professional instructors and for advanced training in bee keeping for practitioners. In a spacious bee house, exclusively Dark Bees are kept in typical Swiss hives accessible from the rear. It will be very interesting to visit this very special bee house.
Aerial photograph of the Plantahof at the border of the town of Landquart. In the centre the buildings of the Agricultural Education Centre can be identified.
Accommodation facilities
The Plantahof can host 80 people in spacious double rooms of different comfort levels. If you sign up for this option, you have all facilities under one roof. For further guests we recommend the nearby Hotel Heidi in Maienfeld. A shuttle bus to the hotel will be organized.
Conference program
For both the Conference participants and the accompanying persons a varied program is offered.
Professional excursions
On the first day, three different full-day professional excursions are planned. Mating stations, queen test yards or the Center (institute) for Bee Research close to Bern including a nature trail will be visited. All trips include places of cultural interest or visits of beautiful landscape sceneries.
Oral presentations and Poster session
Presentations take place from Saturday morning until Monday lunch time. Of course, the Dark Bee will be the centre point. During different symposia, important characters of the Dark Bee and the selection for them will be addressed. It will be shown how defined goals can be achieved. Of course, pitfalls will also be mentioned. Prof. K. Bienefeld will present his breeding values system, a proven system for data acquisition and quality assessment.
Unfortunately bees are not spared from diseases. How to avoid them and how to treat them is discussed in the corresponding session. The closing session will address the initiatives taken in different countries to protect the Dark Bee. Time is also set aside for newsworthy and current themes. The conference will be rounded off by a series of posters.
The conference language is English. In order to allow as many as possible of the participants to follow the presentations, a simultaneous translation service from English into German and French is sponsored.
Conference dinner
For Saturday night a relaxed dinner is on the program. We shall begin with an aperitif and then enjoy a pleasurable dinner. A typical local folk music band will entertain us.
Bee house at the Plantahof
On Monday afternoon we will have the occasion to visit the bee house of the Plantahof. Interesting information about the management with the Swiss Type hives will be presented.
At the end of the Conference, the usual SICAMM Meeting will take place. SICAMM is an informal organisation with a lean management structure composed of the president and the secretary. Top actual topics as well as future themes will be discussed. The most important question is always: where will the next SICAMM conference take place? All who are interested in the fate of SICAMM should attend.
A touristic excursion to close the conference
On Tuesday, a panorama train ride via Albula (UNESCO world heritage) to Pontresina in the high Alps is on the program. We will take the narrow gauge “Rhätische Bahn" Railway starting in Landquart and reach the Albula line via Chur. Its spectacular engineering structures made of local quarry stone and the series of winding tunnels are the masterpiece of the classic period of railway construction. We will reach the Engadine at an altitude of 1798 m.a.s.l. and from there take a cable car to Muottas Muragl at 2453 m.a.s.l. There we will be served lunch in the panorama restaurant. The return trip takes us through the Vereina tunnel, the longest tunnel of narrow gauge trains of the world, and back to Landquart
Excursions for accompanying persons
During the symposia, day-trips in the vicinity of the conference will be offered. The possibilities of cultural and scenic places of interest are very large, so participants will be spoilt for choice.
Arrival and departure
Participants who want to enjoy the whole program will join the conference on Thursday, Aug. 30th and leave it on Wed. Sept. 5th 2012.
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