Almond pollination full steam ahead as Hunter clamps down on varroa mite

BY DAKOTA TAIT

More than 80,000 beehives have been moved to the State's south-west to pollinate almonds, despite the looming threat of varroa mite in the Hunter.

The State Government is confident it has a handle on the situation with surveillance yet to detect the deadly pest in Griffith.

Keepers outside of the emergency zones can move their bees, as long as they have a permit and are alcohol washing their hives.

Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders says they're still looking into the origin of the outbreak.

"There's no definitive word on exactly where the varroa mite came from or how it got into Australia," he said. "Obviously we've picked it up in sentinel hives which are near the Port [of Newcastle]."

"There's also a bit of a theory around some of the other areas close by to the Newcastle port, and whether it got in there. During COVID, there have been a lot of ships docked off areas."

Earlier this week, the Department of Primary Industries announced it had euthanised all 99 infected hives across the Hunter and other affected regions.

It's hoped the successful movement of bee populations is a sign the outbreak has been contained. 

The hives are likely to move on to cherry, melon, citrus, and other fruit plantations in coming weeks.

Mr Saunders says it's important to get the industry back on track.

"One of out three mouthfuls of food we consume is due to the fact that we've got bees doing the work they do," he said. 

"People have been talking a lot about flooding causing increased prices of lettuce and things like that. Well, if you're not getting the food that you're used to getting because pollination's not occurring, guess what's going to happen? Supermarket prices and green grocer prices are going up across the board."

"Beekeepers like these guys know their hives intimately. They know if something's changing and we need them to continue be that frontline defence against any disease coming in."

Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders and Almond Board of Australia CEO Tim Jackson.

Hope for world-first pesticide as Hunter's varroa battle continues

BY DAKOTA TAIT

Researchers are developing a new pesticide which could be a game-changer for beekeepers across the Hunter and around the world dealing with the varroa mite.

A team from the University of Sydney and Hort Innovation have teamed up to work on the $1.2 million initiative.

According to Hort Innovation's Pollination R&D Manager Ashley Zamek, the project has exciting potential for the industry.

"This pesticide is actually a real innovation," she said. "Most chemicals are either broad-spectrum - so they kind of affect anything and everything."

"Even those that are quite selective tend to focus on a group of insects - those that suck or chew. This pesticide will only target varroa mite and won't be harmful to any other insects, including honey bees."

By targeting the hormone receptors of the mite, as well as the hive beetle, the pesticide interferes with the reproduction, development, and behaviour of the unwanted species. 

Those target receptors aren't present in honey bees or other vertebrates, meaning the pesticide is safe for the environment.

It comes as the State Government declares another biosecurity zone on the North Coast, after the varroa mite was detected near Nana Glen, north-west of Coffs Harbour.

Contact tracers say all the detections so far have been linked to existing cases.

The pesticide project's been in the works since before the varroa mite incursion in the Hunter, however, initially focusing solely on the hive beetle.

It's likely a few years away from widespread and commercial use, but there's hope it will be welcomed by farmers and beekeepers around the globe.

"The technology that's required to create this pesticide requires specialty expertise as well as laboratory facilities, and Australia's one of the only places in the world that can do that," Ms Zamek said.

"Not only will it be applicable for Australia, but it will be applicable worldwide, and that makes it really special in terms of having a commercial market."

Varroa mite restrictions eased as bee euthanisation scaled back across the Hunter

BY DAKOTA TAIT

The Agriculture Minister has announced big changes for commercial beekeepers, allowing them to apply for permits to move their hives for the purpose of pollination and honey production.

The permit system will go live on Wednesday, but beekeepers will need to complete a short online course through Tocal College to be eligible.

Hives located inside the current emergency zones also can't be moved.

Highland Honey's Roger Easton at Fennell Bay says the Government is between a rock and a hard place.

"I don't think they're giving up," he said. "I think they've come to the realisation that pollination is extremely important."

"The almond industry is an $18 billion industry and half the bees for pollinating the almonds, which are down around Mildura, would be New South Wales bees."

It comes as the Department of Primary Industries says it's scaling back the euthanisation program of bees across the Hunter, arguing it will assess the situation to identify priorities.

Much of the Hunter is included in the eradication zones, where all bees must be destroyed.

It's prompted some concern among beekeepers, the Department has given up on containing and eradicating the mite, especially as the region nears warmer weather and bees swarm and travel longer distances.

Mr Easton says it's a tough call for the Government, but the focus should be on dealing with wild populations.

"If varroa gets into a feral bee colony, it won't kill that feral bee colony," he said. "Mother Nature's golden rule is that parasites do not kill their hosts, because if they kill their hosts, then that's going to kill them as well."

"If varroa gets into a feral bee colony, it will live in that feral colony and will try and infect as many hives around there as it possibly can."

Hunter beekeepers hopeful after $18 million compensation package announced

BY DAKOTA TAIT

Hunter beekeepers are optimistic a new compensation package will keep the industry alive as New South Wales grapples with the varroa mite crisis.

Both commercial and amateur beekeepers are eligible for reimbursement in the State Government's new $18 million package, which will cover the costs of destroyed bees, hives, and equipment, as well as honey losses.

Australian Honey Bee Industry Council CEO Danny Le Feuvre says it's a welcome measure, but not the only approach.

"It's only one component of a much larger program that we're doing," he said. "We've got multiple different ways of supporting the industry."

"We're about to launch a public fundraising platform today through Hive Aid to try and also provide additional support to beekeepers.

"And it's not just financial - these beekeepers have had to destroy some of the things they've been working towards for a long time. It's not just financial support needed, it's also emotional and mental support that as an industry we're trying to provide."

Close to 1,700 hives have been destroyed in the emergency eradication zones since the start of the incursion. 

Most recently the mite has been detected at Denman, Heatherbrae, and Jerrys Plains, though an order allowing hives in flood-affected or at-risk areas has been extended by another seven days.

The Agriculture Minister is confident, describing it as an "unbroken chain of infected premises", with 38 properties in total now affected by the pest.

Mr Le Feuvre says the industry is also optimistic, but it's a "game of waiting and seeing".

"We're working really hard on tracing," he said. "There's a really big focus at the moment on tracing and surveillance to try to find the edge of the incursion."

"As we're doing more tracing, we're finding more detections, and that just shows that tracing's really working.

"But even though we are finding detections, we're going through thousands of hives that we're not finding any mite at all."

Newcastle varroa mite outbreak highlights national biosecurity concerns, farmers say

BY DAKOTA TAIT

The varroa mite outbreak at the Port of Newcastle has sparked concern, Australia's biosecurity systems aren't up to scratch.

NSW Farmers has raised the alarm on the possibility of more diseases breaching the country's border screening protocols.

The organisation's calling for the Government to undertake urgent reform of the biosecurity system.

Biosecurity Chair Ian McColl says it's deeply concerning.

"We've also had khapra beetle, we've had Japanese encephalitis affecting the pig industry," he said.

"Clearly the protocols that we have in place at the moment for our borders, aren't giving us the level of protection that we need as a community and as an industry."

"There's been a number of calls for reform over quite a long period of time, and I think this is just bringing home to us that the current system is not delivering what we need, and we need to reassess resourcing at our borders and at our ports."

Although the State Government has increased funding for biosecurity preparedness and response, NSW Farmers is calling for more investment in preventing the incursion of diseases, rather than a reactionary approach.

Mr McColl says livelihoods and industries are at risk

"There's no doubt that the recent incursions of foot-and-mouth disease in Indonesia have the potential to cost us $80 billion across the whole industry and the wider community," he said.

"The potential impact of that is really difficult to even get your head around those sorts of numbers."

Image credit: Port of Newcastle.

Hunter beekeepers heartbroken amid emergency eradication order

BY DAKOTA TAIT

Hunter beekeepers are facing a tough future, after a deadly parasite detected at the Port of Newcastle has led to emergency orders across the state.

The Department of Primary Industries has issued a statewide lockdown in response to the detection of varroa mite last week, meaning hives and bees cannot be moved anywhere across NSW.

A 50 kilometre biosecurity zone remains in force around the Port of Newcastle, but amateur and commercial beekeepers within a 10 kilometre will likely see their bee populations euthanised as a precaution.

Hunter Valley Amateur Beekeepers Association Vice-President David Vial says it's the right move, but local beekeepers are understandably devastated.

"Hundreds of beekeepers and thousands of hives," he said. "I'm at Williamtown, and I've got about 160 or 180 hives, so they'll all be euthanised.

"I know of a couple of commercial beekeepers in the area that have probably got roughly 3000 hives between them, plus all the other smaller beekeepers around the area."

"I've got a queen breeding program here at Williamtown, that I've been working on for the last five or six years. That's all going to be lost, so we've basically got to start again. We'll need new bee stock. From what I can hear, we can't have bees for the next six months."

Australia is the only major honey producer free of the pest, but no country has ever succeeded in containing the parasite.

90 percent of hived bees in New Zealand were wiped out when the parasite arrived across the ditch two years ago.

NSW Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders says varroa mite could cost the local industry as much as $70 million a year if it wasn't quashed early, by affecting both the production of honey for food, and the pollination of plant species.

"The financial impact, through pollination - it's all going to be reduced," Mr Vial said.

"Your local vegetables aren't going to be pollinated like they were. We're already seeing food shortages in the supermarkets because of the floods, but this is just another impact that we weren't even expecting to happen."

Maitland farmers say cease-to-pump plan will cripple agriculture

BY DAKOTA TAIT

Maitland farmers are concerned a cease-to-pump rule put forward by the State Government would cripple agriculture across the Hunter.

The move would restrict the amount of water irrigators can draw from the Hunter River throughout the summer in a bid to safeguard the freshwater supply downstream.

It's part of a NSW Planning and Environment Department management plan, which the Government says will bring the region in line with the rest of the State and safeguard the waterway against increases in salinity.

But farmers have raised their concerns at a meeting of the Lower Hunter Agricultural Water Users Incorporated group on Friday afternoon, arguing crops won't survive such a change.

Secretary Julia Wokes says the Government is out-of-touch with the community, and farmers are already capable of managing water issues themselves.

"The way the water works in the Lower Hunter is managed by generations of farmers," Ms Wokes said.

"They know to manage salinity, they know how to manage their crops, they know how to manage their land, and they provide local food, local seasonal production for the Maitland and Newcastle area, and they're very important."

There's concern the local agricultural industry, and from there, the entire regional economy, would be devastated if the decision is to go-ahead.

The plan is available for feedback until February 27, and farmers are putting together submissions in opposition to the rule.

An online petition already has 1300 behind it, and will be submitted alongside other materials.

Ms Wokes says a blanket fix isn't the right solution for the region.

"We want everyone to put petitions in, we want everyone to put submissions in," Ms Wokes said.

"We want them to understand that we're looking after the environment, they need to go away, they need to go and monitor the river, they need to go and really understand what they're asking us to do."

"They haven't done their triple bottom line research - they've no idea of the socioeconomic impacts of their decision."

Hunter Bee Keepers Call For Recovery Plan, Not Just "Sugar Hit" On World Bee Day

BY EL FITCHETT

Today is World Bee Day, and across the Hunter beekeepers are backing calls from New South Wales Labor for a recovery plan to ensure the survival of the beekeeping industry.

New South Wales is the largest honey producing state in Australia, but apiaries are reeling after years of drought, followed by a horror bush fire season.

"A lot of trees didn't flower and produce honey because of the drought, or died. Even though we've had rain, we don't really get the benefits from that for around 6 to 12 months, before trees respond and eventually flower," said Col Wilson, who runs Hunter Valley Apiaries based in Kurri Kurri.

In an added blow, the summer bush fires destroyed native habitats, thousands of hives, and many millions of bees.

"A lot of the burnt timber won't recover, and the places that have been burnt wont be good for 5 to 10 years before they can be useful for the bee keeping industry," said Col Wilson.

Without pollen producing trees such as flowering gums to feed bees, producers in fire-affected areas were given a short-term food source of sugar supplements earlier this year.

"There was a limited amount of it. There's a lot of bee keepers still feeding bees to try and keep them alive," said Col Wilson.

Prior to COVID-19, Shadow Minister for Primary Industries Jenny Aitchison traveled across the state and spoke to many beekeepers about the devastating impacts on the industry, and saw the damage first-hand.

"It's the perfect time for the Berejiklian-Barilaro Government to produce a recovery plan that details how they will help the industry recover both in the short term and long term," said Jenny Aitchison.

“NSW apiarists were given short-term food source of sugar supplements for the bees in the fire-affected areas earlier this year, but they need ongoing support from the Government to ensure not only the bees future, but the sustainability of the many other primary producers in horticulture who are reliant on bee pollination.”

The industry has petitioned the State Government for access to national parks and conservation areas which could serve as alternative sites, until fire-affected land recovers.

However, these areas have previously been off limits to beekeepers, due to concerns about the impact bees could have on native ecosystems.

"With national parks they say because bees weren't native to Australia we do not want you in there. But bees are beneficial to the environment, would they prefer to let the bees die? Is that conservation?" said Col Wilson.

Other suggestions from the industry include an audit of public lands available for beekeepers, waivers on fees for using public land for hives, and more sugar supplement to keep hives in production.

Ongoing support from the Government could ensure not only the bees future, but the sustainability of many primary industries which are reliant on bees for pollination.

"You have farmers who grow crops, and with bees working those crops you get better quality fruit, or in canola crops you get a better quality seed and a higher oil content. But no bees no crop," said Col Wilson.

"The industry has been crying out for assistance, and it is past time that the Government listened to them," said Jenny Aitchison.

"I know commercial beekeepers who've lost 50 per cent of their resources. What they are going to do I don't know. That's why we would like some of this public land to be made available in the short term to keep the industry going," said Col Wilson.

Local MP says Singleton Drought Assistance Snub Echos the Sport Grants Scandal

BY DAKOTA TAIT

The Morrison Government has been accused of using drought assistance funds for political gain after Singleton missed out on financial assistance despite supposedly less eligible communities receiving millions in grants.

With 11 percent of the workforce employed in the agricultural sector, drought-affected Singleton falls short of the 17 percent requirement to receive government funding - yet six other local government areas that also fell short received aid through the Drought Communities Program.

State Member for Hunter, Joel Fitzgibbon has claimed the then-Regional Services Minister Bridget McKenzie - currently embroiled in a similar sports grants scandal - ignored the program's eligibility guidelines to pork-barrel electorates in the lead-up to the 2019 election.

Of 14 councils that received million dollar grants, 13 belonged to Coalition seats.

"The numbers don't stack up - clearly Singleton's agriculture and processing workforce is sufficiently high to be receiving this money, and I'm demanding the government step up."

Mr Fitzgibbon says the Singleton community was left trying to understand why they had been excluded from funding.

"The answer is that the criteria of the DCP was not evenly applied. Bridget McKenzie controlled the Drought Communities Program and ensured many drought-affected communities could not access the $1 million grants. This Government has lost the bush."

Parliamentary Secretary visits Drought-Ravaged Properties: Maitland, Port Stephens

BY LAUREN FREEMANTLE

The devastating effect of drought on Hunter farms has been sighted first-hand by Parliamentary Secretary, Scot MacDonald.

He visited livestock and dairy farms around Port Stephens and Maitland yesterday, and now plans to share his findings with colleagues in state parliament.

Among the farms visited was Danny Stork's property at Glen Oak, where a dam once 3 metres deep is now nothing more than a muddy puddle.

"There's no question they're under a lot of pressure," Mr MacDonald says, "the pastures are in a very poor condition; many [farmers] are reporting less than half their average annual rainfall- dams are dry and feeders are just about non-existent on the paddocks."

Many parts of the Hunter Valley have recorded single-figure millimetre readings for 2018.

Mr MacDonald says he's relaying the dire situation to government.

"I'm going away and talking to government ministers about what we can do to assist and what the appropriate response is."

He says a collaboration to improve water catchment measures could prove timely.

"I think there's a range of actions we can take; it needs Port Stephens Council to also look at some of their policies around dam cleaning- when dams are empty, it's an opportunity for them to be cleaned out and de-filtered."

Despite an inter-governmental drought agreement signed in 2013 which removed subsidies such as those for fodder transport and left many Hunter farmers calling for reform, Scot MacDonald says there is still a subsidy available for livestock being transported for sale or slaughter.

He says under the current scheme, there's a focus on drought-preparedness and loans for silos and water infrastructure, and is urging affected property owners to attend information workshops later this month.

The workshops will be hosted by Hunter Local Land Services, aiming to arm regional producers with animal health advice from veterinarians and advice on current beef market trends to follow on from seasonal and climate information presented at forums held in October last year.

The Lower Hunter Producer Update will take place at Tocal on February 21, while the Upper Hunter event is being held at Scone on the 22nd.

For more information on the workshops or to RSVP, head to the Hunter Local Land Services Events page.

Dam dry: Danny Stork's Property at Glen Oak. Image: Maitland Mercury

Finished tour of drought impacted farms in Lower Hunter at Danny Stork’s Port Stephens property. Farmers reporting water at critical levels.Not seen this severe in generations.Dairy farms particularly hard hit.Thanks to @MaitlandMercury @BelindaJaneD for organising pic.twitter.com/ILrLzd8MKn

— Scot MacDonald (@ScotMacDonald1) February 12, 2018