agronomy Article Characterization of Beekeepers and Their Activities in Seven European Countries Raquel P. F. Guiné 1,2, * ,Sónia Mesquita 1, *, Jorge Oliveira 1,2 , Catarina Coelho 1,3 , Daniela Teixeira Costa 1,2 , Paula Correia 1,2 , Helena Esteves Correia 1,2 , Bjørn Dahle 4 , Melissa Oddie 4 , Risto Raimets 5 , Reet Karise 5 , Luis Tourino 6 , Salvatore Basile 7 , Emilio Buonomo 7 , Ivan Stefanic 8 and Cristina A. Costa 1,2   Citation: Guiné, R.P.F.; Mesquita, S.; Oliveira, J.; Coelho, C.; Costa, D.T.; Correia, P.; Correia, H.E.; Dahle, B.; Oddie, M.; Raimets, R.; et al. Characterization of Beekeepers and Their Activities in Seven European Countries. Agronomy 2021, 11, 2398. https://doi.org/10.3390/ agronomy11122398 Academic Editor: Christos Athanassiou Received: 13 October 2021 Accepted: 22 November 2021 Published: 25 November 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Agrarian School of Viseu, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, 3500-606 Viseu, Portugal; joliveira@esav.ipv.pt (J.O.); ccoelho@esav.ipv.pt (C.C.); daniela@esav.ipv.pt (D.T.C.); paulacorreia@esav.ipv.pt (P.C.); hecorreia@esav.ipv.pt (H.E.C.); amarocosta@esav.ipv.pt (C.A.C.) 2 CERNAS Research Centre, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, 3504-510 Viseu, Portugal 3 CECAV, Animaland Veterinary Research Center, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal 4 Norwegian Beekeepers Association, 2040 Kløfta, Norway; bjorn.dahle@norbi.no (B.D.); melissa.oddie@nordi.no (M.O.) 5 Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, 51014 Tartu, Estonia; ristorai@gmail.com (R.R.); reet.karise@emu.ee (R.K.) 6 Eosa Estrategia y Organización SA, 36202 Vigo, Spain; ltourino@eosa.com 7 Bio-Distretto Cilento, 84052 Ceraso, Italy; presidente@ecoregions.eu (S.B.); emiliobuonomo@gmail.com (E.B.) 8 Tera Tehnopolis, 31000 Osijek, Croatia; istefanic@fazos.hr * Correspondence: raquelguine@esav.ipv.pt (R.P.F.G.); soniasmmsa@gmail.com (S.M.) Abstract: Beekeeping is an ancient activity that is gaining interest among practitioners and society in general. It is as an activity with positive impacts in the environmental, social and economic spheres, with the potential to reconnect these dimensions and contribute to sustainable development. Thus, it is important to determine the profiles of beekeepers across the world, and to understand the main social, economic or ecological drivers that shape their activities. Hofstede cross-cultural dimensions were used to better explain differences between countries. A survey was undertaken of beekeepers in different countries (Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, and Spain) in the native language of each nation. A total of 313 questionnaires, using an online platform or in paper form, was delivered face-to- face during training or dissemination events in 2019. Norway and Finland were the countries with the highest percentage of respondents with a university degree (>80%), while Spain (42%) and Croatia (48%) presented the lowest percentages. Most participants were experienced beekeepers (59% had more than five years of experience) with more than 50 colonies. With the exception of Italy, beekeeping appears to be a hobby or an additional professional activity. The main beekeeping products for these beekeepers were honey, wax, colonies and propolis, with an average honey production per season of 24.5 kg/hive. Crossing socio-demographic characteristics and Hofstede cross-cultural dimensions showed a relation among countries with higher Power Distance Index (PDI; this value expresses how society accepts and expects a certain inequality of power) and lower annual income and educational level (Croatia, Portugal, and Spain). A strong correlation appeared between Masculinity Femininity Index (MFI; this value refers to gender effects in society, with feminine societies meaning that the dominant values are caring for others and quality of life, as opposed to masculine societies, which are driven by competition, achievement and success) and age, income and education, with Norway presenting the most feminine society, with more educated and older beekeepers. The Uncertainty Aversion Index (UAI; this value explains how members of a society feel when dealing with unknown situations) was strongly associated with education. The results showed that increasing beekeepers’ income will contribute to balancing the distribution of power among members of society, and that this might be achieved by training, especially in Croatia, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. Keywords: beekeeper; bee products; beekeeping sector; Hofstede dimensions Agronomy 2021, 11, 2398. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11122398 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/agronomy