INDUSTRY NEWS
Bees trucked from WA for almond pollination
FOR the first time Western Australian beekeepers have supplied hives for almond pollination in South Australia. Five hundred and fifty hives were prepared for transport in late July. Bee Industry Council of WA( BICWA) director Brendon Frewster said the full road train was organised with about 10 days notice to help a SA almond grower who was urgently looking for bees.“ It’ s just been hard yards for the beekeepers in South Australia to get their hive numbers up, due to poor seasonal conditions,” he said. When South Australian orchards need additional bees for pollination they are usually sourced from New South Wales and other eastern Australian states. However this season there were biosecurity restrictions in place to prevent the spread of varroa mite. Mr Frewster said he was amazed by the response from the Western Australian beekeepers.“ It’ s a pretty great country that we live in and if a call goes out for help, most people will put their hand up and try and help out where they can,” he said. Western Australian beekeepers have also had a poor season.“ I’ ve been in the industry now for about 30 years and this in the poorest season I’ ve experienced,” Mr Frewster said.
Bees from Western Australia helped with pollination this season in South Australian orchards, after dry conditions and biosecurity restrictions made sourcing hives locally or from the eastern states difficult.
“ We’ ve had a lot of long dry summers and hot, the trees are struggling a bit.” Mr Frewster said the Western Australian hives were supplied by five different beekeepers, so a central collection point was organised, where they were inspected to ensure they were healthy before making the trip along the Nullarbor.“ The thing with bees is that you can’ t leave them on the truck for very long. You want to get them in there an out of there and quickly as you can,” he said. Bees and bee products aren’ t allowed to enter Western Australia, so the hives were purchased by the almond grower and have made a one way trip.
Mr Frewster said there is a potential for this collaboration to continue and for a larger number of hives to be sent interstate for future pollination seasons.“ Now we’ ve done it once with short notice, we’ d love to be able to organise for it and we could do it potentially a lot better,” he said. BICWA chair Melanie Tolich said as Australia’ s climate and biosecurity landscape changes, a strong connected beekeeping community is needed.“ Pollination is essential to food production and BICWA’ s work ensures that WA beekeepers are ready to deliver, not just for WA but for all of Australia,” she said.
industry. australianalmonds. com. au
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