Size and Scope of the Australian Honey Bee and Pollination Industry Snapshot

Summary

This project will assess the size and scope of the Honey Bee and Pollination industry to provide a statistical summary of the industry.

Program

Honey Bee

Research organisation

AgEconPlus Pty Ltd

Objective summary

The objective of the project is to provide AgriFutures Australia with a detailed statistical analysis of the honey bee and pollination industry. The project will fill knowledge gaps that currently hinder the delivery of RD&E. It will report industry current status against a historical baseline of 1962, the year in which the RD&E levy was established. Knowledge gaps relate to:
1. Number of commercial and recreational beekeepers – credible data is required to confirm that while the number of recreational beekeepers has skyrocketed, the number of commercial beekeepers may have been static or even in decline
2. The amount of honey produced per annum per producer – while commercial beekeeper numbers may not have changed, it is thought that the volume of honey produced per beekeeper has substantially increased
3. The percentage of crops that rely solely or partially on honey bee pollination – honey bee pollination is not only essential for a range of the more obvious horticultural crops (e.g. almonds, blueberry, macadamia, apple, pear, cherries, etc.), it plays an important role in broadacre production (e.g. canola and pasture species such as lucerne and clover)