The Land: Bee Industry’s Honey Drought
The following news article was published by The Land on December 01, 2022.
Beekeeper Bradley Jackson, My Dad's Honey, on the Hay Plain, with hives he has moved multiple times due to rising floodwaters.
BY Denis Howard and Alexandra Bernard
YEARS of drought, bushfires, a Varroa mite incursion and now widespread flooding has NSW beekeepers feeling the pressure.
That's according to NSW Apiarist Association president Steve Fuller.
Mr. Fuller said honey production will be down, but it is the flow-on effect for pollination which will have a significant impact on agriculture.
"It is too early to say at this stage how significant the impact will be," he said.
The adverse weather has affected pollination of field crops, cherries, pumpkins and melons.
"Any crops which are low to the ground have been affected.
"Cherries have been really hit hard, even though they are on trees and above any floodwaters.
"The consistent heavy rains during the pollination period kept bees away and damaged flowers.
"The North Coast berry industry has been struggling to get bees since last December and this has been having a very big impact.
"I have heard it is costing them $250 million a quarter."
Mr. Fuller said the decline in the bee population has also played its part.
"Everything that has happened over the past five years has NSW beekeepers hurting," he said.
"When you think that there are between 20,000 and 30,000 bees per box and the amount of hives we have lost, there has been a very big decline in bee numbers.
"Just with the Varroa mite incursion, 18,500 hives have been euthanised and with two new identifications expanding the red zones, this doesn't look like stopping anytime soon."
Commercial beekeeper Bradley Jackson from My Dad's Honey, Echuca, has hives across the Darling to the Murrumbidgee and Murray areas and finding higher ground has been a challenge.
"We have about 18 truckloads of bees and have had to move those three and four times trying to get them away from the water," he said.
"I'm running out of high dry ground to put them."
Mr. Jackson said he had also lost bees during pollination of stone fruits with the floodwater, but the biggest impact would be on honey production with eucalypts overindulged on water which has caused them to mostly grow new leaves instead of flowers.
"We were planning on going to the redgum at Hay and Carrathool this year in November/December - I'd been waiting 18 months for it to flower and was looking very good, with a good honey flow coming, but now the trees are sitting in water and I doubt it will produce any honey," he said.
"Every beekeeper that I've spoken to as far as Gunnedah and Coonabarabran to Wagga Wagga, Tumut, Tumbarumba, over to the South Australian border and in Victoria have all had the same problems and honey production has almost ceased right across the board."
