Caring for country - Northern and Yorke Natural Resources ...

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Plan bee
Bill Nicholas reports on plans to resist a tiny killer.
Broadacre and horticulture crop yields are expected
to take a substantial blow if a global bee disease
that devastates beehive populations makes its way into
Australia.
Yorke Peninsula agri consultant, Bill Long, who has just
returned from a Churchill fellowship tour of the US,
Europe and the UK says despite our best quarantine
efforts it was inevitable that varroa mite would
establish itself in Australia.
His tour involved studying the effects of the mite on
bee populations and the impact on crops dependent on
the pollinating species. Varroa mites are insects the size
of a pinhead that attack bees making them susceptible
to other diseases. Bee populations globally have been
decimated by the varroa mite.
The US devastation of beehives has led to the situation
where Californian almond growers have had to
contract half of the US beekeeping industry to move to
their almond orchards for a month during flowering to
make sure the almond crop is fertilised to produce the
high value crop.
In the UK, the devastating bee mite has wiped out
beehives and now the country has a governmentsupported
and retail industry sponsored campaign
to beef up the numbers of feral bumble bees to take
over the fertilising work previously done by beehives of
working bees.
Bill Long said pollination was a factor limiting crop
yields in Australia because there were insufficient
managed, feral and native pollinators – and the varroa
mite could potentially further reduce these numbers.
He said his experiences had shown him that the
Australian industry must be prepared to minimise the
effects of the mite if it “arrived” in the country.
“The challenge for Australian beekeepers and the
industry is to develop a plan for when the varroa
mite enters Australia, and be very clear on what that
reaction and response will be,” Mr Long said.
“It affects a hive’s strength by sucking blood from
adults and the emerging bee brood. The hive is
eventually overrun by the mite, but it’s not the varroa
mite that kills the bees but the viral diseases that
develop because the hive is weakened.”
Mr Long said Australia needed to learn from the
mistakes of the US, and be fully prepared for the insect.
His Fellowship objective was to investigate profitable
large scale pollination services which have developed
since the varroa mite emerged.
Since his paper ‘Building large scale pollination and
preparedness to manage disease and varroa mite’ was
published, Mr Long has attracted serious attention
from top levels of agribusiness.
He has discussed the development of an Australian
pilot of Operation Pollinator with Syngenta, which
financed Mike Edwards on a UK trip in September to
conduct field studies and meet with key ecologists and
farmer groups.
The Northern and Yorke NRM Board has committed
$35,000 towards this project, and a scoping study on
Operation Pollinator is proceeding with Department of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s representatives at
Kadina and Crystal Brook.
Support is being sought from State Minister
for Environment and Conservation Paul Caica and
Shadow Minister Adrian Pederick MP, the member for
Wakefield, Steven Griffith, the Yorke Peninsula Alkaline
Soils Group and the Rural Industries and Development
Corporation to fund a scoping study for a proposed
Pollination and Honeybee Research CRC.
Mr Long said his local project to counter bee
devastation would be based on the success of
Operation Bumblebee in the UK, where bee
populations were increased by up to 600 per cent and
other insects were increased tenfold.
Syngenta was sponsoring Operation Pollinator, a five
year program to provide habitat and food sources for
pollinating insects across Europe. The project aimed to
boost numbers of pollinating insects in order to protect
biodiversity and improve crop yields and crop quality.
The project is currently being run in the UK, France,
Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the USA.
The project uses scientific research findings to develop
site specific ways of creating habitats alongside the
working farm environment.
“There is an urgent need to prepare for the arrival
of varroa mite and to identify alternative pollinating
species that exist in our environment,” Mr Long said.
“An examination of habitat that will enhance the
existence of both native and feral populations of
pollinating species is required.
“Together, policy makers need to link with the
scientific, agricultural, apicultural and ecological
communities to continue to develop and enhance
programs that will ensure continued and improved
pollination services to agricultural and ecosystems
across Australia.”
Top right: Yorke Peninsula agri consultant Bill Long.
Right: Operation Bumble Bee was launched on a property in Oxfordshire
in United Kingdom (pictured). It is working towards a better distribution of
flowering clovers to halt the decline of bumble bees.
Photo: Michael Richards
Left: Bee populations globally have been decimated by the varroa mite.
Photo: Rowan Edwards
Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board 17