Mystic - Jerry Hayes is a little like an itinerant preacher, traveling the country to inspire the already faithful and maybe convert some doubters.

Hayes, a veteran expert in honey bee health based at Monsanto's St. Louis headquarters, is visiting the company's Mystic office to give a talk today to staff and members of the public about promising work to develop a biological remedy for varroa mites, the parasite that carries numerous viruses to commercial and backyard bee colonies.

The use of chemical pesticides to control varroa mites, first found in this country in 1987, is believed to be one of the main factors in the "perfect storm" of forces causing Colony Collapse Disorder, the name for the phenomena that first began wiping out hives in 2006.

Hayes said he's been giving talks like this at various locations both to educate Monsanto staff and the public about a relatively new line of work going on at the international agricultural products company.

"With the public," he said, "one of my big struggles is that everybody hates Monsanto."

While he will address the often contentious issue of the company's work with genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, if someone in the audience brings it up, the main subject of his talk will be the promising research toward developing a biological control that would enable beekeepers to control varroa mites without using pesticides. Called Remembee, the product, which would enable bees to acquire genetic resistance to the mites, is about five to seven years from being commercially available, he said.

Monsanto took on the project when it acquired the Israeli company Beelogics in 2011, and the technology has potential applications for other crop pest control needs, he said.

"For the Monsanto staff, it's motivating for them to hear that their company is working on improving honey bee health," he said.

"For the public," said Hayes, who was the chief of the apiary section for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services before joining Monsanto in 2012, "I want them to pause and think about this a little more. The government and the USDA have not been able to do anything" to combat Colony Collapse Disorder but a private corporation may be closing in on a solution.

"If we can do something nonchemical, let's give it a try," said Hayes, who has been a backyard beekeeper for 35 years. "In the past, this company wanted to help farmers by killing bugs (with pesticides), and now we're trying to keep a bug alive."

Hayes noted that honey bees are essential to the health of the agricultural economy, responsible for pollinating one-third of all crops.

Field research on hives given Remembee, he said, is yielding new and valuable tools and insights about these vital insects. It has led to the development of new methods of assessing the health of hives, for example, including methods using computer software to count the number of bees in a hive by weight.

"It's a learning platform that will be transferred" to other applications, he said.

j.benson@theday.com

Twitter: @BensonJudy

If you go

What: Talk by Jerry Hayes, "Monsanto's Commitment to Honey Bee Health"

When: 10 a.m. to noon today

Where: Monsanto Mystic Research Center, 62 Maritime Drive, Mystic

RSVP: kimberly.obrien@monsanto.com or (617) 645-3059