WE WILL FURTHER DEVELOP AND EVALUATE BROOD MIXING IN HONEY BEE COLONIES AS A SCIENCE-BASED, CULTURAL INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM) STRATEGY THAT PROMOTES COLONY-LEVEL GENETIC DIVERSITY TO REDUCE PARASITE PRESSURE FROM THE MITE VARROA DESTRUCTOR. THIS NOVEL, VARROA-TARGETED PRACTICE REQUIRES NO SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT NOR ADVANCED TECHNICAL SKILL AND IS THEREFORE FAVORABLE TO ADOPTION BY BEEKEEPERS. PRELIMINARY FIELD DATA IS PROVIDED TO DEMONSTRATE BROOD MIXING'S ABILITY TO SUPPRESS MITE POPULATIONS AND REDUCE RELIANCE ON SYNTHETIC ACARICIDE TREATMENTS. WE SUMMARIZE DECADES OF RESEARCH DEMONSTRATING THE NECESSITY FOR INCREASED COLONY GENETIC DIVERSITY AND HIGHLIGHT THE EASE WITH WHICH BROOD MIXING COULD BE INCORPORATED INTO ANY HONEY BEE IPM PROGRAM. WE WILL TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY PRESENTED BY A FULL SEASON BROOD MIXING FIELD TRIAL TO EXPLORE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE ROLE OF BROOD FRAME SHARING IN PATHOGEN TRANSMISSION, QUANTIFY THE LABOR COSTS THAT STAKEHOLDERS SHOULD EXPECT WHEN IMPLEMENTING BROOD MIXING, AND FINALLY TEST THE SYNERGY OF BROOD MIXING WITH ANOTHER CULTURAL IPM PRACTICE, BROOD CYCLE DISRUPTION.