For anyone who hasn't listened to a seasoned beekeeper discuss the amazing world of bees, let me just say, put it on your bucket list. From the drones having all but one purpose in life, genetics which doesn't include a father and a body which boasts four wings, six legs and five eyes, the world of bees is fascinating. With their ability to produce honey, wax, nectar, royal jelly and of course pollinate, they rightly deserve their title of 'keystone species' as without them our ecosystem may not survive.
If the recent figures are anything to go from, it seems many more people have stumbled across the beauty of bees with great increases in registered hives (hives are compulsory to register).
It is also plainly obvious that bee keeping has been an integral part of Queensland's history given it is represented by a peak industry body dating back 136 years. So, it shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone in horticulture how valuable to our industry these beauties are. It may be their silent 'just getting on with the job' nature which has prevented the industry from taking the limelight. However, to shine a light on how industrious these girls are (the workers are all girls) on any one given night while many of us are asleep between 100-200 trucks are moving bees from farm to forest and forest to farm along the east coast of Australia.
Given its history, you could imagine my surprise that with more than a century of knowledge and understanding of some of Queensland's smallest horticultural workers, it became apparent in a recent biosecurity meeting that 'we' (a collective of peak industry bodies and government) didn't have a pollination calendar for Queensland horticulture.
The need for this information only came about when trying to work out if the 90,000 hives registered in Queensland would be enough to pollinate all crops in the season they required it, within the time frame and location they needed it. We were working together to understand if we had enough hives within the state and the travel required to get the job done. Biosecurity planning without imminent threat is one thing but planning with varroa mite over your shoulder or indeed just over the border gives necessary clarity and purpose to conversations.
It has been in these conversations that the opportunity for both the bee and horticulture industries to work more collaboratively into the future has been identified. Growth in horticulture requires growth in pollination.
Let's not forget our bee friends in these planning conversations, because although we all need a Plan A, many of us also need a Plan Bee.
