Honey production in Victoria, and thus the Victorian apiculture (beekeeping) industry, is largely reliant on access to native flora by honey bees (Apis mellifera). Honey bees were first successfully introduced into Australia in 1822 - to create a food source, food sweetener and also to pollinate introduced crops. Australian flora were found to produce good quantities of nectar.127
The industry now occurs in all States of Australia, with at least 32,675 tonnes of honey produced per year. Victoria produces 15.6 per cent of the total (New South Wales produces 44.8 per cent) - with a farm-gate value of $50 million (1996 figures). Export markets are important, with some 25 to 30 per cent of honey production exported.
Other products of the industry include beeswax (545 tonnes per year, with farm-gate value of $3.3 million) and sale of queen bees and `package bees' ($3.75 million). 128 129 The gross value to Victoria of honey and beeswax products in 1996-97 was $7.9 million.130
The apiculture industry also provides pollination services to agriculturalists. While traditionally viewed as a (freely provided) by-product of honey production, such services are increasingly being provided on a contractual basis; 12,000 hives are contracted to service the almond industry in north-west Victoria each year. The Victorian Apiarists' Association outlined the importance of spring and summer pollination services:
Crops for which honey bee pollination is essential are apples and pears, cherries, berries, nashi, kiwi fruit and vegetables; and broadacre crops of buckwheat and lucerne. Crops whose yield quality is improved by the presence of managed honeybees are clovers, sunflowers, canola, faba beans, stone fruits, vegetable seed production and chick peas.131
The `value to society' of pollination services probably outstrips that of honey - the estimated annual value of domestic pollination is around $1 billion.132
Bees need access to nectar and pollen to survive and thrive. Though the honey bee is an exotic species, apiarists depend on native trees and shrubs for a continuity of supply of nectar and pollen.133 A key study by the Honey Research Council in 1989 showed that the required floral resource was provided by:
a) Eucalypt forests and woodlands - 77 per cent;
b) Banksia scrubland and coastal heathland - 7 per cent;
c) weed species - 10 per cent;
d) crops (for example oilseeds and clovers) - 5 per cent; and
e) roadside vegetation - 1 per cent. 134
Particular species are sought by apiarists, as they produce honey with desirable characteristics. Box-ironbark forests of central Victoria are especially valued, as many of their native-tree species consistently produce large quantities of premium quality honey.135 Yellow box (Eucalyptus melliodora) is considered the premium species. Mallee communities are also important during certain periods of the year, when nectar and pollen are otherwise limiting - notably late autumn and winter. Access to native vegetation at these times is most important for sustained production.136 In addition to eucalypt species, over 90 species of plants found in Victoria (not all of which are native) produce honey accessible to honey bees.
By 1996-97 there were approximately 1,600 registered operators.137 Many of these were part-time producers with 50 hives or less. Registered operators had around 100,000 hives.138 The Victorian Apiarists' Association estimates that 400 (of the current 1,778) beekeepers own 200 or more hives and produce a substantial amount of their income from honey and beeswax production derived from bee hives. They estimate that 80 to 85 per cent of production is from native flora.139
Most of the larger operators are based in and around central Victoria, although their hives may be distributed around the State according to the season and site availability. A commercial apiarist may use over 20 sites a year around the State, although not necessarily the same 20 sites each year. A large part of this network of sites will be on, or abutting, public lands.
A large number of different species of native bee also use the nectar and pollen of the native plants of public lands. None are used for commercial production of honey, but emerging research by the Australian Native Bee Research Centre indicates that native beekeeping "shows exciting potential for gourmet honey production and crop pollination."140 The Committee also notes that native bees are stingless.
Strengths of the Sector
The apiculture industry is growing - since the early 1960s production of honey has gone from 2,200 tonnes to 4,000 tonnes per year, the number of bee-hives has grown from 62,000 to 109,000 and the number of beekeepers risen from 1,280 to 1,778. This increase is a result of improved skills and knowledge.141 The industry provides a vital and increasingly acknowledged role in pollinating a variety of commercial crops. It provides an important supplementary income to many rural Victorians and has developed successful overseas markets.
Challenges Facing the Sector
Beekeeping is a unique industry. Generally neither the basic resources it depends on (that is nectar and pollen) nor the land from which it operates are owned by the beekeeper.142
The honey bee uses a very wide range of plant species - up to 50 per cent of all plants in some habitats may be visited. Such native plants are normally pollinated by wind, birds, insects or mammals, with their nectar and pollen used by many insects and vertebrates. It would be surprising if an introduced species did not have some impact on the natural flora it uses, as well as on other native species dependent on this resource - for instance on native bees and birds, due to food and nesting-site competition and changes to pollination. Nonetheless, results of research have been inconclusive. Some impacts have been observed when floral resources are limiting.143 However, feral populations are numerous and widespread (they have been recorded since the 1860s). Honey bees may provide a substitute pollinator in degraded remnant bushland where natural pollinators are in low numbers.
Resource security is another key challenge facing the industry. Apiculture is dependent on the native forests, mostly now found only on public lands, and there can be conflicts with other uses and activities on these public lands, particularly in areas such as national parks.144 There is growing concern among conservationists, ecologists and land managers that the presence of honey bees conflicts with the primary purpose of conservation reserves, which is to protect indigenous flora and fauna.145
