Search Results for: Honeybee
Showing 81 to 100 of 679 results
Removing barriers to beekeeping
Winning the 2019 QLD AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award has given Natasha Roebig an even greater opportunity to pursue her passion for providing education about sustainable beekeeping and raising awareness about ethical apiary practices. Natasha’s latest focus is on developing interactive resources for schools that will give students a ‘bee’s eye view’ of the hive system...Hive Haven V10 OATH Hybrid Native Stingless Bee Hive
..., these benefits and more, are at risk. Native Bees are critical to the future of food production in Australia. The continued decline of pollinators, including wild and domestic populations of native bees and honeybees is predicted to seriously threaten food supplies and significantly impactAustralian...
News story
Protecting Australia’s beekeeping future through smart traceability
This feasibility study is exploring how national beehive and honey traceability systems could enhance biosecurity, regulatory compliance, operational cost savings and industry resilience across the honey bee sector.Redoubling Australia’s bee protection efforts
... devastating impact of exotic pests such as Varroa mite, which is yet to take hold in Australia, pose a significant threat to our honeybees and our pollination services,” he said. “Hence, doing everything we can to help fight this risk is vital.”The enhanced bee surveillance program complements more...
News story
Help shape the future of Australia’s honey bee and pollination industry – your voice matters
Australia’s honey bee and pollination industry is at a turning point—and AgriFutures Australia is inviting beekeepers, bee breeders, researchers and industry stakeholders to help shape its future through the next Honey Bee & Pollination Program RD&E Plan.News story
What’s in Plan Bee for bee breeders
Bee breeders have a vital role to play in Plan Bee, a national program designed to boost the quality of Australia’s honey bee stocks through genetic improvement.Bee Informed: A celebration of 60 years of honey bee research in Australia
For six decades, Australia’s commercial beekeepers have contributed to their industry’s research, development and extension (RD&E) needs through the honey levy. Since the levy was established in 1962, RD&E has contributed to strong biosecurity performance and policy support, increased honey production in the face of declining of floral resource availability, progress in repositioning Australian honey as a high-value health product, and strong growth in the demand for, and income earned from, pollination services. Professional beekeepers who produce 1,500 kilograms or more of honey per calendar year pay a levy on their honey production. Levies collected are used to fund Australia’s emergency plant pest response, National Residue Survey testing, Plant Health Australia membership and RD&E activities. The Australian Government contributes matching funding to the RD&E component, the expenditure of which is managed by the AgriFutures Honey Bee & Pollination Program. The Australian honey bee industry should be congratulated for its foresight and commitment to RD&E. However, findings from RD&E projects funded in the early years of the levy that were not digitised have become increasingly difficult for the industry to obtain. In consultation with the industry, the AgriFutures Honey Bee & Pollination Advisory Panel identified that a compendium of honey bee research funded under the levy should be compiled. This compendium outlines the valuable work undertaken dating back to the inception of the Honey Industry Act in 1962, and details the major findings from projects investigating pests and disease, nutrition, genetic improvement, resources, pollination, off-farm issues, and communication and extension. This compendium provides information that will help apiarists, the honey industry and the general public understand the diversity, breadth and purpose of the research undertaken, the outcomes of each project, the implications for the industry, and the key benefits for commercial apiarists. The development of this compendium was funded by the honey levy and matching contributions from the Australian Government, and is an addition to AgriFutures Australia’s diverse range of research publications. It forms part of the AgriFutures Honey Bee & Pollination Program, which aims to ensure a productive, sustainable and profitable beekeeping industry, and secure the pollination of Australia’s horticultural and agricultural crops. Most of AgriFutures Australia’s publications are available for viewing, free download or purchase online at www.agrifutures.com.au.Project summary
Project snapshot: Optimisation and Evaluation of an External Trap as a Mass Trapping and Monitoring Device for Small Hive Beetles
...The small hive beetle (SHB) (Aethina tumida) poses a serious threat to the Australian honeybee industry, which is valued at $4.6 billion annually for its honey products and pollination services to horticulture and crops. Current control methods for this pest include in-hive traps and pesticides...
Report
Australian Honey Bee & Pollination Industry National Colony Loss Survey 2024 and 2025 key results
The Australian honey bee and pollination industry, a cornerstone of the nation’s agricultural sector, is facing an unprecedented challenge with the establishment of the parasitic mite Varroa destructor in New South Wales (NSW) in September 2023. To address the urgent need for robust, evidence-based management strategies, the Australian Honey Bee & Pollination Industry National Colony Loss Survey was launched in 2025. To date, two surveys have been conducted. This report presents the findings of these surveys, establishing a critical baseline of colony health and identifying the initial impacts of varroa on the industry.Report
Plan Bee: Beekeeper and queen bee breeder surveys 2020
Plan Bee, Australia’s Honey Bee Genetic Improvement Program, has been initiated in order to implement modern breeding principles in the Australian honey bee industry. Australia’s honey bee industry supports many other industries through pollination services. Strong, healthy colonies and a strong, profitable beekeeping industry are essential to ensure Australia’s food security. As part of this initiative, two surveys were undertaken to assess beekeepers’ and queen producers’ attitudes around queen production and purchase and toward Plan Bee and past bee breeding programs. This information is sought to inform Plan Bee of the needs of the beekeeping industry with respect to bee breeding and to learn from their experience. The survey questions were approved by the University of Sydney Human Ethics project 2020/193. Surveys were completed online using REDCap v10.0.1 (Vanderbilt University) and promoted on the Plan Bee website, eXtensionAUS Professional Beekeepers website and associated social media, in the Australasian Beekeeper magazine, and through industry association mailing lists and newsletters.Honey Industry Survey 2006/07
...custr13_HBE PRJ-000968 Mia Lorber-Hughes 02 6923 6911 Milly Lubulwa Barrie, Mirjana Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences The objective of this project is to generate a consistent set of estimates for the production and financial characteristics of honeybee producers in Australia, in line with the survey done by ABARE in 2001-02. PRO_CLAQ...
Optimising bioactive content of Australian stingless bee honey
... standard be developed so thatapiarists can legally market their high value product. Various standards havebeen implemented around the world to define honey, which generally only relateto Honeybee (Apis mellifera) honey. Stingless honey does not meet thesestandards and new standards need...
Report
Honey Bee Genetic Improvement Program (Plan Bee)
The Plan Bee project has made significant progress towards the development of a national honey bee genetic improvement program, with the majority of deliverables successfully completed. This is despite a number of challenging external factors, including the impacts of drought, flood and fire, COVID, Varroa mite detection and the difficulty in accessing genotyping services. Trait definition and development were guided by beekeeper and queen breeder survey results, which confirmed honey production, temperament, brood pattern and pest and disease resistance traits were most highly valued. Nationally representative consultation was conducted through surveys, interviews and workshops and culminated in the development of the Plan Bee Breeding Manual, Australia’s reference text for standardised phenotypic assessment and data management, pedigree recording and sampling methods for genotyping. Plan Bee team members collected phenotypic data with queen breeders according to standardised methods outlined in the Plan Bee Breeding Manual, which was subsequently submitted to the national database developed and managed by the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit (AGBU), located at the University of New England. Approximately 5,500 colonies are present in this database, with frames of bees, aggression score, chalkbrood and brood pattern score, along with European foulbrood score having the highest number of records by trait.News story
New honey bee and pollination research investment buzzes natural and social science researchers
In 2023, AgriFutures Honey Bee & Pollination Program will be seeking to invest in a number of new and exciting research projects drawing on a wealth of scientific knowledge from a range of areas including the fields of virology, entomology, toxicology, social science and/or economics.Pollination Australia
... management strategies for biosecurity and adaptation should an incursion not be containable, research and development required to underpin these risk management strategies; and education and training to ensure that the honeybee industry can deliver on the biosecurity strategies and adapt to manage veroa...
Final report summary: Chemical residues in honey bee products post canola flowering
... of honeybee products from this early-flowering floral source. Chemical analyses carried out as part of the project found trace residues of neonicotinoid in honey, pollen, wax and beebread (stored bee pollen) at levels far lower than those reported from similar studies carried out in the United...