INDUSTRY NEWS
Pollination security: Where the almond industry stands this season
AUSTRALIA ' S almond industry has grown more than twenty-fold since 2000, from roughly 3,500 hectares to over 71,000 hectares, making almonds the nation’ s highest-value horticultural export. That growth depends entirely on one resource now under mounting strain: commercial honey bees. The industry needs 300,000 hives per annum during August at a cost of well over $ 60 million. Since the varroa destructor mite reached the Port of Newcastle in 2022, a $ 100-million-plus eradication effort has failed, and the parasite has since spread across NSW, Victoria and now South Australia. A chemicalresistant strain identified in early 2025 has made treatment far harder and more costly, and beekeepers report losing entire colonies despite intensive miticide programs. The numbers now confirm what the industry feared. Moves to address the issue have led to a small sector of the agriculture advocating for further support and greater action to protect the Australian foodchain. A new Pollination Security Status Report from the Wheen Bee Foundation puts this August’ s eastcoast hive shortfall at around 290,000 hives— close to three-quarters of the hives typically deployed for pollination nationally. NSW alone has reportedly lost roughly a third of its commercial beekeepers since varroa arrived, with more expected to exit as treatment costs climb and returns shrink. The strain on this year’ s almond bloom was visible. With eastern hives in short supply, more than 7,500 healthy, mite-free colonies were trucked from Western Australia to South Australia in July— a $ 2.3 million exercise— simply to meet pollination requirements. Those hives will remain on this side of the nation and eventually be exposed to varroa. Managing varroa was time consuming enough when the first strain arrived in 2022 and has mentioned above has already led to a lot of retirements and beekeeper exits. The new varroa strain has rendered beekeepers almost powerful to fight the strain and raises urgent questions around food production across Australia. For growers, the effects are already showing up as higher hive fees— beekeepers report rises of 20 per cent or more this season— and, anecdotally, in some cases there have been cases of weaker hives with fewer bees per box. With honey bees underpinning an estimated $ 14.2 billion of Australian agricultural production annually, and demand for pollination hives having tripled since 1990 while hive numbers have barely grown, this shortfall is structural, not seasonal. There is no quick fix in sight.
Government has so far declined the subsidies and fee waivers sought by the beekeeping sector, leaving the market to adjust on its own— meaning fewer beekeepers, higher prices, and a shrinking pool of hives for an expanding orchard footprint. For almond growers, that makes early hive contracts, strong relationships with beekeepers, and continued industry advocacy for biosecurity support more important than ever as we head into an increasingly beeconstrained future. The ABA will continue advocate for ongoing support to beekeepers to ensure solutions to manage the chemical resistant mite are take as quickly as possible.
industry. australianalmonds. com. au
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