International varroa mite expert Raffaele Dall'Olio will take part in a Zoom meeting about living with the bee parasite

Slow Food Hunter Valley has arranged for Italian-based researcher Raffaele Dall'Olio to share his knowledge in a Zoom meeting with 100 community members.

Earth Market Maitland chairwoman Amorelle Dempster has encouraged farmers, backyard growers, gardeners and concerned residents across the Hunter to join the chat on Zoom at 8pm on Tuesday night.

Mr Dall'Olio has been researching honey bees since 2003 and has worked on pathogen and virus detection and monitoring projects.

He is also involved with international research groups Colony LoSSes and the Research Network for Sustainable Bee Breeding.

Ms Dempster said his insight into living with the varroa mite was essential, given the parasite continued to spread within NSW and it was likely the state government would be forced to abandon its eradication policy in favour for a management plan.

The varroa mite was detected in sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle in June 2022. Since then it has spread to several sites across NSW, including the Hunter, Central Coast and Mid North Coast.

"We want to know if we go into a management phase what does it look like, and bee diseases are his speciality," she said.

"We need to know what the landscape is like living and working with the varroa mite. I feel it is very important for us to know how other people around the world are managing it and what we can do to prepare ourselves for living with it."

Slow Food Hunter Valley's Zoom account can only accommodate 100 people, thus the cap on attendance.

The group will share a recording of the meeting afterwards so anyone can view it.

Click here to join the Zoom meeting.