Background

AgriFutures Australia has long-term, established relationships and strong networks with the Australian honey bee industry. The program invests in research, development and extension, to foster a more productive, sustainable and profitable Australian beekeeping industry.

Within this program, AgriFutures Australia also supports the pollination of Australia’s horticultural and agricultural crops. About two-thirds of Australian agricultural production benefits from insect pollination, most of which is provided by honey bees. Apiarists across the country produce almost 40,000 tonnes of honey per year, with the commercial and recreational sectors contributing $623.8 million to the Australian economy. The value of pollination services provided by honey bees is estimated to contribute $4.6 billion to the Australian economy each year.

Pollen is an essential component of the honey bee diet and colonies cannot rear brood without access to natural pollen. A key constraint in the beekeeping industry is the inability to replace natural pollen with an inexpensive artificial diet that supports brood production. Such a product would allow beekeepers to prepare colonies for honey flows or pollination contracts without the need to move colonies to natural pollen sources, which may be hundreds of kilometres away or not available. Feeding bee-collected pollen is also practised, but such pollen is expensive and poses a disease risk if not irradiated. Moreover, natural pollen fed in the hive attracts small hive beetle infestations which often kills colonies.

Despite decades of research and many ‘pollen supplements’ available for purchase by beekeepers, to date no artificial diet available in Australia allows bees to rear brood for multiple lifecycles. AgriFutures considers the lack of effective pollen replacement products a key knowledge gap and constraint on the Australian beekeeping industry.

In 2025, a paper appeared claiming to have identified the key component found in natural pollen that has not been replicated in commercially available pollen-replacement diets: plant sterols (Bogaert et al 2025 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.3078). Bogaert showed that when plant sterols, notably isofuscosterol and 24-methylene cholesterol are provided in an artificial diet, bees can raise brood even when deprived of natural forage.

A second paper published in Nature (Moore et al 2025 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09431-y) comes to similar conclusions. Moreover, Moore et al report the development of a genetically engineered strain of yeast that produces an appropriate mixture of plant sterols suitable for an artificial bee diet. Combined, the Bogaert and Moore studies pave the way for achieving the goal of a totally artificial honey bee diet that can be produced at scale.

Service requirements

AgriFutures invite proposals that will assist in the development of pollen-replacement diets for promoting hive growth and well-being. Such projects could include, but are not limited to:

• Investigation into the development of pollen-replacement diets which include plant sterols.
• Applied projects that deliver practical, economically viable pollen-replacement feeding strategies suitable for commercial beekeeping operations across Australia.
• Develop improved honeybee diets by refining the ratios of protein, fat and plant sterols to produce optimal colony growth.
• Assess the plant sterol profiles of the pollen of major honey species, and important exotic species such as canola and almonds. The goal would be to determine which if any of these economically useful species lack essential sterols or have them in insufficient amounts.
• Understand the economics of artificial feeding versus colony migration to natural pollen sources.
• Assess the need to control small hive beetles when feeding artificial diets, and if so, how best to control them.
• Validation under commercial beekeeping conditions.
• Collaboration with commercial beekeepers and industry groups is encouraged.

The expected timeframe for completion from commencement is between two to three years.

Download full guidelines here

Timeline

Evaluation criteria

A respondent’s response will be evaluated against:
(a) The evaluation criteria identified in the table below; and
(b) The overall proposition presented in the respondent’s response.

Submitting a response

Applications for this Request for Quote must be submitted online using the application in K2.

Respondent’s will be expected to provide:

• A detailed project plan – including timelines, how the project will be conducted and how this will meet the requirements of the RFQ.
• A detailed budget – attachments may be included.
• Examples of similar work the respondent has completed. Capability and relevant experience.

The resultant Contract is expected to commence on 1 June 2026.

It is expected that a contract will be awarded based on how well a respondent addresses the objectives of the open tender. Selection will be based on the evaluation criteria. A detailed response will be beneficial. There is the opportunity to include additional attachments if necessary with your application in K2.

Click here to login to K2

Users must create a K2 account before submitting a proposal. To set up a secure account before submitting a proposal, please visit the login page below to access our new user or new company request forms.

Usernames and passwords will only be issued while the applicable round is open.

K2 guides and login

If you require assistance, please contact

Terms of reference

AgriFutures Australia uses standard form contracts and agreements for projects and research procured by AgriFutures Australia (please refer to https://www.agrifutures.com.au/contracts-and-agreements/). These contracts and agreements set out the terms on which AgriFutures Australia will engage successful applicants to carry out the project.

Applicants must be familiar with the contracts and agreements before submitting a response, and are advised to seek legal advice beforehand.

These contracts and agreements have been developed to reflect AgriFutures Australia’s statutory and other procurement responsibilities.

If you require any amendments to the standard agreement please complete the statement of non-compliance for each of the relevant clause. AgriFutures will then assess those requests.

Applicants will be taken to have agreed to all clauses in the Service Provider Agreement that are not referred to in a statement of non-compliance. The extent of any non-compliance will be a factor in AgriFutures Australia’s evaluation of the application.

If you require further information regarding these contracts and agreements please contact:

Stephanie-Kate Bratton
General Counsel

Contact

If you have any questions about the Request for Quote process, please contact:

Mia Lorber-Hughes
Coordinator, Honey Bee and Pollination