Laboratory of Apicultural Studies

Beekeeping (Apiculture) is an important employment and income source in Argentina where the main honey-production basin is the Pampean region. For many years our country has placed among the first worldwide honey producers and exporters and the province of Buenos Aires provides approximately half of the production. However, beekeeping’s most relevant contribution, although extremely hard to quantify, is that of food production and environmental sustainability through pollination services.
The Laboratory of Apicultural Studies (LabEA) of the Department of Agronomy, Universidad Nacional del Sur, was created by the University Assembly in December 2009 based on the Laboratory of Honey Quality created in 1994. The LabEA is linked to the CIC (Commission of Scientific Research of the Province of Buenos Aires) through an agreement signed on 2 August, 2013. The LabEA studies are carried out in the area of apidology and, in particular, of apiculture with a multidisciplinary scope/view. The LabEA coordinates and carries out research activities, teaches undergraduate and graduate, performs extension activities, and publishes its work. The group includes members of the Pampero Beekeeping Work Cooperative, an entity with which there is a collaboration agreement and which in turn articulates its actions with the Pampero Chamber of Beekeepers (Cámara de Apicultores Pampero). This maintain the awareness of the regional problematics and functions as feedback to the group which is also supported by researchers from other national and international institutions.