BEEKEEPER, Bert Seagrove, is based 40 kilometres north of Glen Innes in northern NSW, but has been known to travel up to 1500 kilometres from home with his hives.
He is a proud member of the Northern Tablelands industry, and is sharing tough times with others at the moment.
Bert said he was not surprised by reports on the rising numbers of beehives lost nationally since August 2019, which now sits at about 10,000.
"To me the number came as no surprise. Some of those blokes, it'll put them out of business I imagine. They won't come back from that," he said.
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"I think there are [also] a large number hives that lost a lot of their bee populations.
"There are a lot of hives that were weakened by the fires, and that's tens of thousands of hives too, I believe."
Bert said he ran 4200 hives and had lost 24, which he described as insignificant in the scheme of things.
"A beehive is probably $400 - $500 to build from scratch up, one particular bloke lost 1000, so he's probably lost $400,000 - $500,000 worth of bee material," he said.
Nationally, bushfires have destroyed over 8 million hectares of bushland, and honey production is down sharply in parts of Queensland and NSW where great swathes of floral resource were lost or damaged from drought and fire.
Recovery in these areas is going to take many years before trees return to sufficient flowering patterns to sustain beehives, if they ever recover at all.
If they are to survive, some beekeepers will need support to supplement bees where nutrition from the environment is unavailable.
Parent company for the Capilano brand, Hive + Wellness, has joined with Rural Aid and peak industry body The Australian Honey Bee Industry Council, to launch Hive Aid, a drought and bushfire relief campaign aimed specifically at struggling beekeepers.
Bert said Hive Aid was good to show somebody was thinking of you more than anything else.
"The ins and outs of Hive Aid is that they're going to reimburse as much money as they can to these beekeepers who have been decimated by the fires, and try to get them back into the game again," he said.
Hive + Wellness chief operations officer Ben McKee promoted it as more than a morale exercise though, saying bees and beekeepers were in a battle for survival.
"Hive Aid will provide much-needed assistance," he said.
"We are already seeing falling bee populations and the increasing risk of an exodus from the industry by beekeepers.
"We risk not just a fall in honey production, but declines in food production across the board. Honey shortage is what consumers will see first, but the ramifications are much greater."
Honey and other hive products are tasty and useful, but bees also pollinate food crops to feed us and livestock.
Aside from some indirect funding, fodder and freight subsidies, as well as waiving of National Park permit and truck registration fees in NSW, there has not been any adequate funding made available on a national level specifically for beekeepers registered as primary producers.
- Peter McDonald, chair, AHBIC
Globally, one mouthful in three depends on honey bees. Domestically, two thirds of our nation's agricultural output depends on pollination from honey bees.
Hive Aid will be overseen by Australian Honey Bee Industry Council, and will provide financial and practical support to professional beekeepers.
Rural Aid National Business Development manager Wayne Thomson said the campaign would provide immediate practical assistance, such as supporting beekeepers with the cost of water to sustain bees or the cost of fuel to transport hives to areas with more nutritional resources for their bees.
"Individual beekeepers may have different needs - our support will enable funds to be directed where they are most needed," he said.
AHBIC chair Peter McDonald said the industry's challenges were very real, with members saying they need urgent help.
"Aside from some indirect funding, fodder and freight subsidies, as well as waiving of National Park permit and truck registration fees in NSW, there has not been any adequate funding made available on a national level specifically for beekeepers registered as primary producers," he said.
Twenty cents from every Capilano Drought & Bushfire Relief honey pack goes to Hive Aid.
