Georgia beekeeper Paul Vonk lives in the tiny unincorporated hamlet of Mountain City, near the North Carolina line, but was honored for his work to educate the beekeeping community and students through HiveTool, which provides a noninvasive way to analyze colony health.

HiveTool allows beekeepers to check the temperature, light, weight and other data inside a hive without opening it up. An early goal for HiveTool was to develop a $50 version, Vonk says on the product’s website. From there, the buyer can voluntarily donate more to Center for Honeybee Research.

The award is sponsored by the Bayer CropScience's Bee Care Program and recognizes a person who uses his or her interest in and commitment to honey bees to benefit the community. As the 2015 winner, Vonk will receive a $5,000 grant to continue his work.

HiveTool includes off-the-shelf hardware and free, open source (meaning, anybody can use it) software that continuously monitors beehives. The system allows beekeepers to manage their hives better by giving them real-time information on hive conditions. Vonk also uses HiveTool to transmit data to NASA to study how bees are impacted by land use and climate changes.

Vonk has made HiveTool the centerpiece of his work with a local school as well as regional beekeepers, sharing his passion and enthusiasm for beekeeping with students who previously had never worked with pollinators. The HiveTool system has attracted students to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields by allowing them to work with bees and learn more about bee health and beekeeping.

“Paul’s efforts to improve his community by educating beekeepers and students through HiveTool are remarkable,” said Dr. Becky Langer, director of the North American Bayer Bee Care Program. “We are thrilled to present the award to a beekeeper who has taken such an innovative and creative approach to beekeeping and improving bee health. His efforts to provide beekeepers and students the tools they need to improve their craft and learn more about beekeeping reflects the commitment of the Bayer Bee Care Program to improving pollinator health.”

The contest received a record number of entries based on projects that will have a long-lasting and positive impact on bee health.

“It is truly an honor to be chosen the winner of the 2015 Bayer Bee Care Community Leadership Award,” said Vonk. “With Bayer's recognition and contribution, even more students and beekeepers will be able to learn about HiveTool and how it can be used to improve pollinator health.”

Eight years ago, the U.S. Senate designated a week in June as the time to raise awareness about pollinators, take stock of their overall health and calculate their value to agriculture.

The Pollinator Partnership organizes activities for National Pollinator Week – this year June 15-21 – which has now grown to be an international celebration of the valuable ecosystem services provided by bees, birds, butterflies, bats and beetles.

Honey bees contribute over $14 billion to the value of U.S. crop production.

Honey bees pollinate crops such as apples, cranberries, melons and broccoli. Some crops, including blueberries and cherries, are 90-percent dependent on honey bee pollination; one crop, almonds, depends entirely on the honey bee for pollination at bloom time.

While honey bees account for much of the pollination in cultivated agriculture, a study that came out Tuesday in the magazine Nature Communications showed that 2% of wild pollinators are responsible for 80% of the crop pollination that is done by non-honey bees. In other words, some wild pollinators, such as bumble bees, appear to be workhorses that a farmer try specifically to nurture in order to get pollination benefits.