Beekeepers’ rough year

Press, 12 February 1982, Page 9

Beekeepers’ rough year

Canterbury beekeepers are having a bad season because of the dry windy conditions. Honey yields will be down about 50 per cent compared with last year, and according to a Mid-Canterbury beekeeper, Mr John Syme, some beekeepers would be lucky to recoup 25 per cent of this year’s running costs.

Lack of rain at crucial times, then too much rain at other times and strong winds had made conditions unfavourable for the production of honey, especially from clover.

The previous seven years had been good seasons for the production of honey, but this year the weather has been against beekeepers.

Warm moist conditions were needed for clover to produce nectar for the bees, but this year the ground was

too dry for clover to grow well, according to Mr Geoff Hantz, the president of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Beekeepers Association. Night time temperatures early in the season had not suited clover either, said Mr Hantz. As well, many farmers were holding their lambs later than previous years and this extra grazing was preventing many clover paddocks from flowering. The efficiency of the bees had been affected by strong winds. Constantly battling against wind was hard work for bees and reduced their life span. In calm weather bees lived longer and therefore could make more trips between flowers and the hives.

Mr Hantz said his yield this year would be down by about 50 per cent compared with last year. This season was the worst since the late 1960 s and early 19705. Many young beekeepers could be forced out of business because of the poor honey-producing season, according to Mr Syme, of Staverley. “Unlike sheep farmers our returns are not boosted by the supplementary mimimum price scheme. We expect to take the good with the bad but this year there is no way we will make ends meet,” said Mr Syme.

Beekeeping was the oldest farming industry in the world and one of the most important. Without bees farm crops would not be pol 1 ina t ed.

The government was investing more money in horticulture . but was not encouraging beekeeping. "Look what would happen if kiwifruit or apples were not pollinated,” said Mr Syme. One of the beekeepers main concerns was that they could not use their hives, valued at about $llO each, for security in raising loans. Bees were subject to a virus which could wipe out a beekeeping business in 12 months to two years. If bees contracted the virus then the whole hive had to be burned, said Mr Syme. The government should guarantee automatic compensation to beekeepers if their hives had to be destroyed, said Mr Syme. this would be similar to the arrangements which applied if a farmer had to destroy his slock because oi foot and mouth disease. The most effective beekeepers often worked alone, said Mr Syme, but it was difficult for them to obtain Rural Bank loans compared with the larger operations. A government guarantee of beekeeper’s overdrafts would be a big help to beekeepers this year, according to Mr Syme. “We don’t want money just given to us. But we would like it made a bit easier to obtain financial assistance in bad years. “We don’t expect handouts, but its high time the government did something positive for the industry,” he said.