The body of this report contains a section on the key reflections from each Australian participant.

Objectives
The objectives of the project were to provide to the Australian beekeeping industry an opportunity to learn from the success and failures of the New Zealand beekeeping industry. Primarily focussed on studying the introduction of the exotic bee mite Varroa, the project also included a study of pollination management systems, the NZ industrymanaged AFB control program, and any other aspects considered by the study group to be of value to the Australian beekeeper.

Key findings
In essence, the New Zealand beekeeping industry has similar issues to the Australian beekeeping industry but has progressed further in many respects. The industry-managed AFB program would appear to be, after many years, making headway in reducing the incidence of AFB in New Zealand. This has not been without many hours of input from numerous New Zealand beekeeping officials over many years. The concept of employing a person to manage AFB would appear to be quite successful in drawing together the essential elements of the program.

Legislation has been provided by the New Zealand government for this whole process to evolve. This is not currently available in any state in Australia. Even so, the evidence in New Zealand suggests an industry-driven system will be more likely to focus on the primary issues affecting the industry players and more effectively reduce AFB, than a government owned system. Interestingly, the New Zealand government, through its various agencies, still plays a major part in the control and elimination of AFB.

The impression given by New Zealand stakeholders was that when Varroa mites were found in New Zealand in 2000, the industry went into shock. This resulted in a very large outpouring of emotion and some very strongly held views on ‘who is to blame’. These still persist seven years later.

The industry, during this upheaval, saw pollination fees substantially increase, general honey prices increase, and the value of manuka honey (honey from the manuka bush) go through the roof. Thus, the shock of having to live with Varroa was very much cushioned by improved profitability of beekeeping in many areas. The die-off of unmanaged and feral bees was seen as a positive effect of Varroa, improving honey yields in managed hives (due to decreased competition from feral bees) and increasing the demand for pollination services.

In spite of the experiences gleaned from 2000, Varroa was found in Nelson in the South Island in June 2006. From all accounts, the effort to isolate the spread and ascertain the degree of invasion quickly was impressive.

Unfortunately for many involved, the political decision was made not to attempt eradication.

This was based on the estimated cost of NZ$8 to NZ$9 million and the strong probability that a reinvasion from the North Island would most likely occur sooner rather than later. The estimated success of an eradication of mites from the South Island was given at 80–85%.

Another key stumbling block was the difficulty in obtaining the use of the chemical fipronil.

The manufacturer would not support its use to kill feral bees using remote poison stations.

This chemical had been tested extensively and identified as the most effective for the purpose, far superior to any alternative chemical.

Some of the key points from the study include:

• adult mites live for at least five days with no contact with bees
• very low infestations (1-10 mites) in a hive are virtually impossible to detect
• surveillance systems, using pesticide strips, will only kill mites attached to the adult bees and will not provide information on the number of mites in the brood cells
• an estimate of two thirds of the resident mite population are within the brood cells at any given time
• no Varroa treatments are 100% effective in killing all the mites in a colony
• mites are very mobile and are spread very quickly by beekeepers.

The New Zealand beekeeping industry enjoys rather lucrative pollination service fees, particularly for kiwifruit. The demand for hives to pollinate kiwifruit is still increasing.

The down side of kiwifruit pollination is that the blossom does not yield any nectar and the pollen is considered of poor nutritional quality.

Research by MAF scientists has demonstrated that periodic sugar syrup feeding of bee colonies while they are on kiwifruit will substantially increase the amount of kiwifruit pollen collected, which assumes an improvement in the size and yield of fruit.

This is due to the extra stimulation provided to the bees which induces them to carry out an increased number of foraging flights.

Partly as a result of Varroa, the pollination service fee for all other crops has increased.

Where unmanaged or feral bees once provided a pollination service, managed bees are now filling this role.

The retailing environment for honey in New Zealand varies to some degree to that of Australia. Many of the retail packs are opaque tubs and identified as coming from a specific floral source. It would seem that if a batch of honey can be identified as primarily coming from a specific floral source, then it is marketed as such no matter what the flavour of the honey.

There exists in New Zealand a higher proportion of producer-packers than is the case in Australia, and there are a relatively large number of “honey houses” selling an extremely wide variety of hive-related products and merchandising paraphernalia.

One of the primary factors supporting the economics of beekeeping in the North Island is the price received for honey sourced from manuka. The honey from this plant was not that long ago regarded as “rubbish” and was poured down rabbit holes or fed back to bees over winter. Now every skerrick of manuka honey is extracted and sugar syrup provided to avoid starvation of the colony. Manuka honey is active, referring to its multiple antimicrobial properties, or non-active. Active honey prices to beekeepers ranged from $10 to $30 per kg. Non-active manuka honey prices were still well above regular honey prices.

In many cases, whole operations are focussed primarily on the returns generated from the manuka honey crop. In these situations it was interesting to note that the impact of Varroa was not something to dwell upon, it was relegated to history. Rather, retention of sites with manuka and concerns about theft and dumping were considered of much greater importance.

Implications
If the study had to be refined to a key takehome message, it would probably be that the economics of the industry will affect the resilience of an industry to adapt to changing circumstances. Varroa may have been more devastating if the economic returns had not improved at approximately the same time as it was establishing throughout the North Island.