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Small in size but extraordinarily influential, the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) has a remarkable impact on our food and livelihoods.

About two-thirds of Australian agricultural production benefits from insect pollination — most of which is provided by honey bees — while apiarists across the country produce almost 40,000 tonnes of honey per year.

The commercial and recreational sectors combined are worth $623.8 million to the economy. The contribution of honey bee pollination to crop production is $4.6 billion.

Without question, the humble honey bee is critical to the prosperity and sustainability of Australian agriculture as it grows to being a $100 billion industry.

Industry facts and figures

Across Australia, there are almost 2,000 commercial beekeeping enterprises and more than 47,000 recreational beekeepers. The upsurge in the number of recreational beekeepers since 2019 may be due to increased awareness of the importance of honey bees, the uptake of new hobbies during the COVID-19 pandemic and existing unrecorded hobbyists registering in response to government requests post the June 2022 varroa mite incursion.

Beekeeping is most popular in New South Wales — the state is home to 31 per cent of the nation’s beekeepers and 46 per cent of its hives. Of the 866,045 hives nationwide, 630,490 are operated by commercial beekeepers and are available to pollinate Australia’s diverse range of food crops.

In the past five years, commercial and recreational beekeepers collectively produced an average of 39,600 tonnes of honey per year. The average price beekeepers received for their honey in 2023-2024 was $4.90/kg, down from $6.50/kg in the late 2010s.

The value of honey, beeswax and additional hive products produced by commercial and recreational beekeepers, and income received from paid pollination services in 2023 was $623.8 million.

The value of crops grown in Australia in 2020-2021 that are at least partially reliant on honey bee pollination was $12.9 billion.

The economic contribution of honey bee pollination to Australian crop production in 2020-2021 was $4.6 billion.

The importance of honey bee pollination to individual crops varies based on the value of production and how reliant the crop is on pollination for yield. Almond, apple, avocado, blueberry, buckwheat, cucumber, muskmelon, nashi pear, pumpkin, rubus and a range of seed production are 100 per cent reliant on managed and wild honey bee pollination for yield.

Economically, about $580 million worth of Australian canola depends on honey bees, as does $450 million worth of lucerne and clover, and $400 million worth of apple.