Varroa mite management plans up and running ahead of arrival in South Australia

Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA) acting biosecurity chief executive, Nick Secomb, said he was hopeful SA could remain Varroa mite free for a while to come, despite a number of detections across NSW.

"We have patrols at the borders and we restrict the movement of material that could carry Varroa mite across the boarder," he said.

Mr Secomb said it was difficult to predict how the pest might eventually enter SA.

"At the moment the only known sites are in NSW and we have very little interaction with NSW beekeepers and their equipment at this time of year," he said.

"We hope that will protect us for a while to come."

Mr Secomb said while it was unpredictable when Varroa mite will enter SA and how it might arrive, PIRSA had considered strategies to keep SA Varroa mite-free.

"There's a number of themes we're working on in terms of management like slowing the spread and making sure the current arrangements with NSW are enforced in an orderly manner," he said.

"A really important one is to make sure we've got good industry resilience, so we need to go through a training and engagement process with the industry.

"We need to make sure that apart from managing the beekeepers and beehives, we also support our pollination security."

Australian Honey Bee Industry Council chief executive officer, Danny Le Feuvre, said Varroa mite would significantly change the beekeeping industry forever.

"We've got an opportunity in SA at the moment to buy as much time as possible to make sure our beekeepers are well prepared to be able to manage the mites," he said.

Mr Le Feuvre said the response has changed to manage the mites and upskill the beekeepers and get treatments in Australia.

"It's currently contained in NSW and all permits to cross boarders are currently restricted, so there's no cross border movements," he said.

"There's an opportunity to slow the spread of the mite, which is the new response to buy as much time as possible before it arrives in SA."

There are various factors to consider how long it is before Varroa mite enters SA, Mr Le Feuvre says.

"It's going to be a combination of regulations to slow the spread, including restricted border movements," he said.

"It's going to depend on our beekeepers, because the mite moves at a slow rate on it's own at only five kilometers annually.

"Assisted by beekeepers through moving their hives, it can move as fast as a truck moves."

Mr Le Feuvre said after analysing how other countries, such as the United States of America and New Zealand had handled Varroa mite it did take a long time to travel if spread regulations are in place.

"We already know the Vic government has put a hold on permits for cross border activities, we know Queensland have done the same thing and SA," he said.

"That will prevent widespread movement, cross jurisdictions and also preventing the mites spreading.

"We haven't found mites anywhere other than NSW at this stage and we expect to keep it that way for a little while."

Mr Le Feuvre said if beekeepers do not keep an eye on the health of their hives and monitor mite numbers, Varroa mites would decimate the bee colonies.

"Beekeepers will have to do regular monitoring of their hives, regular brood inspections and regularly intervene on the hive health by providing treatments to suppress those mite numbers," he said.

Mr Le Feuvre said in instances with low numbers of Varroa mites, like NSW, it could take up to six months to get to a level where it needs to be treated.

Lucerne Australian chairman and agronomist, Scott Hutchings, said the health of the beehives was crucial to the lucerne industry and the protection of bees from Varroa mite is extremely important.

"Any sort of Varroa mite outbreak could be a considerable issue for us, because if beekeepers were hesitant to move their hives where there's large numbers of bees, it could impact our industry in quite a serious way," he said.

Mr Hutchings said despite the movement restrictions he was concerned for the lucerne industry.

"Without bees or reduced bee numbers we could be looking at quite significant yield loss and certainly not reaching full potential out of our lucerne seed crops," he said.

"While the mites don't directly affect the lucerne plant itself, it would significantly affect our local seed industry."

Since Varroa mites arrived in Australia, Mr Hutchings said he had received regular information from PIRSA and the Beekeepers Association.

Buzz Honey business owner, Annette Farris, said Varroa mite could impact her business significantly.

"We're going to have to reduce the number of hives we have, so it's going to be more labor intensive to work with less number of hives," she said.

"For us the cost of production will increase and the cost of managing the mite is significant as well.

"All round we will be doing a lot more work more expensively for a lot less honey."

After 12 years of being the business owner of Buzz Honey Ms Farris said she hoped people would continue to meet the biosecurity requirements and consider how Varroa mites could affect the whole honey industry.

Sign up here to Good Fruit and Vegetables weekly newsletter for all the latest horticulture news each Thursday...