In the Changing Face of Agriculture event, Mateusz Sikora shares his story of being a beekeeper and his involvement in the DEMETER project.

1. Creating a Buzz in
Agriculture
Mateusz Sikora (Sikora Apiary)
Pollination Optimisation Pilot

2. Place
Pilot
icon History
• Mid-1950s – my father Marian began
a development of the apiary
• In 1970s royal jelly became the main bee
product
• Around 1988s the apiary was switched to
obtaining honey

3. Place
Pilot
icon Farm succession
In 1998
I started to work with my father on about 400 hives.
Experiences in being a young farmer
Development of transport - to be more effective
Investment in equipment e.g. new honey extractors,
uncapping machine, honey filtration, honey pomps
New polystrene bee houses - they are much lighter than
wooden ones

4. Place
Pilot
icon Overview of the farm
• Continuous development allowed for the
preparation of 600 hives for winter in 2021.
• Currently, the apiary is fully mobile, which
means that all the hives are transported to
the currently flowering plants in several
regions of Poland.

5. Place
Pilot
icon Development of transport
• About 400 mobile hives in 2000
• Continuous development allowed for the preparation of 510 hives for
winter in 2008

6. Place
Pilot
icon Transport in 2021

7. Place
Pilot
icon Technology on the farm
Camera traps
• Weather monitoring
• Security
○ Animals
○ Thieves

8. Place
Pilot
icon Technology on the farm
Drones
• Marketing images
• Planning the arrangement of the apiary
e.g. other apiaries

9. Place
Pilot
icon New solutions validation
DEMETER Pilot 5.3
• Deployed ControlBee Monitor (Central Unit)
• Temperature and shock sensors in 25 hives
• Hive scale and improved Monitor will be tested in Round 2

10. Place
Pilot
icon Experiences
Farm succession
○ Long time process
○ Family farming allows learning from experience
New technology adopting
○ Remote monitoring reduce concerns about mobility
○ More effective apiaries location and arrangement
○ New technology allows more informed decision

11. Place
Pilot
icon How to encourage young people?

12. Thank you!
pasiekasikora@wp.pl
For more information
about the project visit:
www.h2020-demeter.eu