Beekeepers have been forced to manage Varroa​ to keep their bees alive for 30 years.

Pesticides are not an optimal or sustainable solution for Varroa. Behavioral traits of Varroa resistance in honey bees have been known and used at smaller scales successfully treatment free. Integrating Varroa resistance with traits suitable for commercial beekeeping, and scaling up queen production to commercial levels, is the goal of the Hilo Bee project.