Karl Kehrle OSB (3 August 1898 – 1 September 1996), known in the beekeeping world as Brother Adam, was a German‑born Benedictine monk, apiarist and bee‑breeding specialist. He spent the majority of his adult life at Buckfast Abbey in Devon, England, where he developed the celebrated Buckfast bee, a highly productive and disease‑resistant strain of Apis mellifera that has been widely used in modern apiculture.
Early life and monastic vocation
Karl Kehrle was born on 3 August 1898 in Mittelbiberach, Germany. At the age of eleven he was sent by his mother to England for health reasons and entered Buckfast Abbey, joining the Order of Saint Benedict. He took the religious name Brother Adam and, after completing his monastic formation, began working in the abbey’s apiary.
Beekeeping career
In 1915 Kehrle started beekeeping at Buckfast. The outbreak of the tracheal mite Acarapis woodi in the United Kingdom devastated native bee colonies; by 1916 the parasite had reached Buckfast Abbey, killing the majority of its hives. Kehrle responded by traveling to Turkey and other regions to locate bee populations with natural resistance. In 1917 he created the first Buckfast strain through selective breeding, emphasizing productivity, gentleness, and mite resistance.
From 1919 Kehrle was put in charge of the abbey’s apiary. He established a dedicated breeding station on Dartmoor in 1925, providing an isolated environment for controlled crosses. Over the following decades he expanded his breeding program, sourcing genetic material from across Europe, the Near East and North Africa. His systematic approach and meticulous records made the Buckfast bee one of the most influential commercial honey‑bee lines worldwide.
Honors and later life
Kehrle’s contributions were recognized with several honors, including appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1973 and the German Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit) in 1974. He received honorary doctorates from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (1987) and the University of Exeter (1989). He retired from his active beekeeping duties in February 1992 but remained a resident of Buckfast Abbey until his death on 1 September 1996 at the age of 98.
Legacy
Brother Adam’s breeding methods and the Buckfast bee continue to influence beekeeping research and commercial practice. The Buckfast bee is valued for its calm temperament, high honey yield and resilience to certain diseases, though it has also been the subject of debate regarding genetic diversity and local adaptation. The Karl Kehrle Foundation, established in 2020, preserves his heritage and promotes further research in apiculture.