Italy

The Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA) is the leading Italian research organization dedicated to the agri-food supply chains, operating as a legal entity under public law, supervised by the Ministry of Agricultural, Food, Forestry Policies (Mipaaf). CREA was established in 2015 from the merging of previous Institutions. It gathers the experience of 28 Agricultural Research Institutes and their relative 54 operational units for a total of 82 offices throughout the nation. CREA employs over 2000 people, half of whom are researchers and technologists. It is organised into 12 research centres, which are forming a capillary network of structures throughout the country.

The Agriculture and Environment Research Centre (CREA-AA) is the Italian reference institution for the apicultural research, having incorporated the former “National Beekeeping Institute”, which has been active since 1931 promoting honey bee health, disseminating good beekeeping practices, promoting the conservation of autochthonous subspecies and studying beehive products. More recently the research team has been extended further, to cover also agroecological issues, pollinator biodiversity and interaction between bees and climate change. CREA-AA includes also a laboratory, recognised by Accredia, for service/research analysis of beehive products to assess composition, quality and residues and for morphometric determination of bee subspecies.

Entity profile:

As a research entity, CREA-AA has an international profile. It has long term experience in the assessment of honey bee colonies, field and laboratory research on bee diseases, study of beehive products and honey valorisation, morphometric and genetic characterization of A. mellifera subspecies, expertise in the pollinators-agrochemicals interaction, systematics of pollinator biodiversity. CREA-AA has regular interaction with the beekeeper community countrywide, allowing access to ample range of biologic resources and products.