It is nightfall in the Kerry Valley and Marius Borz is wearing a gas mask, essential personal protective equipment while he administers fumigation treatment as part of helping his bees survive Varroa mite.
The second-generation beekeeper has 200 hives of his own. He also works as Manager for commercial beekeeper Murray Arkadieff of Farmgate Honey, who has 1500 hives based out of Peak Crossing.
Together, they offer pollination services for crops, travelling far and wide for contracts they have with the almond and avocado industries, and they also supply honey to the likes of Capilano.
Along with other local beekeepers, they form part of Australia’s critical honey bee industry which underpins the nation’s food security and is worth more than $14 billion annually.
Right now, they are in the fight of their lives to help their bees survive and slow the spread of Varroa destructor.
Here to stay
Australia was the only continent free of the mite for decades until 2022, when Varroa was detected at the Port of Newcastle, New South Wales.
Initially, there was an ambitious focus on eradication but by 2023 that focus switched to managing the issue.
Varroa has now been detected in not only New South Wales but also South Australia, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland, and a new threat has emerged in the form of treatment-resistant mites.
Marius grew up learning the beekeeping trade from his father in Romania, where Varroa destructor is reported to have been officially detected in 1975.
By the time Marius was born in 1994, the pest had well and truly established itself there as an endemic parasite requiring ongoing management.
Marius warned if Australia did not find a more efficient way of managing Varroa, the nation would see a significant increase in food having to be imported.
Huge cost
On his own hives alone, Marius spends about $1200 a month on Varroa management, using treatments approved by the Department of Primary Industry, plus the significant amount of time he spends administering them.
He said the real cost extended far beyond that faced by beekeepers themselves though.
With about 35 per cent of crops in Australia needing bees for pollination and up to 75 per cent of crops gaining benefits from bee pollination, the impacts to food security could be major.
“At this stage we don’t have a silver bullet to eradicate it – if someone is doing that, they deserve a Nobel prize,” he said.
“The impact on pollination is the real cost.”
End of the road
Varroa is hitting hobby beekeepers hard too, spelling an end to production for some small local honey operators like Dick Moloney from Blue Tree Honey.
Mr Moloney established the brand six years ago with bees from his friend Ray Weber, who was undergoing cancer treatment.
Through money raised via Blue Tree Honey, the Moloneys have donated money to several people needing support through cancer and mental illness.
Mental health advocate Mr Moloney, who himself has received support through the honey sales, thanked locals for getting behind it and said sales would continue until stock ran out.
“We thoroughly appreciate those who’ve bought the product from Mitre 10 and Discount Drug Store Beaudesert, who sell the product off their counter for us,” he said.
It may be the end of the road for Mr Moloney’s beekeeping, but he encouraged people to continue buying local honey to support the important role of bees.
Large scale
Graham Beech is the owner of large commercial operation NT Bees Australia, based out of Biddaddaba.
Mr Beech, who originally started beekeeping to pollinate his own melon crop in the Northern Territory, knows all too well the crucial role of bees in agriculture.
He now has 3000 hives and eight employees and his team travels across the east coast pollinating crops including almonds, avocados, blueberries, canola and macca.
Mr Beech spoke about the gravity of the situation.
“No-one will escape the Varroa mite entering their hives,” he said.
“Having the staff level to manage Varroa mite is very important – a lot of the guys with larger numbers of hives and not employing extra help are finding the extra workload overwhelming.
“Fortunately, three years ago I started employing more people to get ready for this, so it was quite a large investment on my part, and I think that’s probably held me in good stead now.”
Mr Beech said he had learned from the experiences of the US.
“I went to America six years ago and we did a tour of beekeeping operations there and I learned very quickly that it was going to be here at some stage and you need to have a good team to manage the treatments.”
Call to action
Mr Beech urged an end to imported honey.
“I’m not a big proponent of handouts from governments… moving forward it’d be nice for the honey price to go up and we need to have some elimination of this imported garbage coming in that’s basically just sugar syrup with some colouring in it,” he said.
“It’s got to be stopped. We produce some of the best honey in the world, so why can’t we promote our industry through this fantastic product we produce and stop this garbage coming in from other countries.
“I think that would help the industry much more than anything else.”
