SCBA General Meeting

Oct 12, 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Location: Druid Hall - 1011 College Ave, Santa Rosa

Guest Speaker: Susan Kegley. 

Pre-meeting Education Series, at 4:30, will focus on products of the hive.

Gardening for Bees will have some of their amazing plants pollinators love available.

Our October Speaker is our very own, Susan Kegley, owner of Bees N Blooms and principal scientist and CEO of the Pesticide Research Institue (PRI). PRI is an environmental consulting firm based in Santa Rosa, California, specializing in pesticide chemistry, toxicology, risk assessment, and environmental monitoring. She will be sharing some of her experience and research into Pesticides with us.

Honey bee colonies suffered extraordinary losses during 2024–2025, with additonal losses continuing into 2026. While no definitive cause has been identified, pesticides remain an important part of the picture. For years, much of the attention on pesticide harm to honey bees has focused on neonicotinoid insecticides—and for good reason. They are highly toxic to bees, persistent in the environment, and systemic in plants, resulting in contamination of pollen and nectar. But as neonicotinoids become more restricted, another question becomes increasingly important: What is replacing these insecticides? This presentation will provide an overview of what we know about the newer insecticides, why honey bee larvae may be especially important in assessing risk, how pesticide mixtures complicate the picture, and what could be done differently to identify emerging threats before they become widespread problems.

Susan Kegley, PhD, Principal Scientist

Pesticide Research Institute

Susan Kegley, Pesticide Research Institute and Bees N Blooms Farm

Susan is a PhD chemist and founder of Pesticide Research Institute, an environmental consulting firm focused on understanding the scope of pesticide impacts on the environment and human health. PRI works to provide research, data tools and toxicological information to clarify the potential impacts of pesticides and make informed decisions about pesticide use. Susan works with commercial beekeepers to investigate the adverse impacts of pesticides on bees.

Susan is also co-owner of Bees N Blooms, an 11-acre organic farm in Santa Rosa, CA. Started in 2016, the farm has a lavender labyrinth (the largest labyrinth in California), lavender for oil production, a certified organic nursery operation focused on pollinator-friendly ornamentals, and flower and vegetable gardens, with an emphasis on providing food for pollinators and humans. The farm is managed using reduced-till regenerative organic agricultural practices and is also home to 4-7 colonies of honey bees, thousands of native bees, 6 cats, 18 chickens, 14 ducks, and 10 geese.

SCBA General Meetings are open to the public. Bring your family, friends, neighbors…