On Saturday 25 February, the fourth scientific symposium of the Slovenian Professional Beekeepers Association (Strokovno Združenje Profesionalnih Čebelarjev) was held at the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia in Ljubljana. The symposium was named after the late Slovenian beekeeper Janko Pislak, the founder of professional beekeeping in Slovenia, who was a pioneer in many fields. The symposium attracted almost 200 beekeepers who filled the hall of the Slovenian Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry with its extremely interesting and current topics.

The morning session was opened by Dr Janez Prešern from the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, who spoke about selection programmes and results of the BeeConSel project.

The keynote speaker at this year’s Pislak Day was Randy Oliver, who spoke about the importance of precise and careful control of varroa, i.e. the number of mites in the hive, and about the use of oxalic acid and its application in the hive.