Apiculture
This section comments on a range of beekeeping activities and products throughout New Zealand.
Key Points
- The varroa mite was discovered in Auckland in April 2000, affecting more than half the usual consignments to Canada of bees and package bees.
- The mite has not affected honey production as the season was more or less over by the time movement restrictions were put in place.
- Honey crops have been variable, but an average crop of 9,605 tonnes was produced.
- Export markets are very slow with few sales of bulk honey being made at good prices.
- The lower New Zealand dollar has not offset depressed world prices for honey as the two biggest markets are Germany and Japan.
Physical Factors
Climate
Most areas in New Zealand experienced a settled cool to warm spring, which allowed colonies to build up well and utilise spring nectar and pollen sources such as willow and gorse. However, this changed at the end of October with a period of heavy rain and cold fronts across the country. This adversely affected kiwifruit pollination and queen bee production.
The summer was rather wet and cool in many parts of the country, especially when compared to the summer of 1998/99. This reduced pasture honey production, but good crops were obtained from bush sources such as tawari, manuka and kanuka. January and February were settled and warm over many areas, but expected nectar flows from pasture species did not eventuate.
Beekeepers described the honey crop as 'patchy' even in areas with similar geography and climate.
Honey Production
Northland-Auckland-Hauraki Plains
This area produced an average crop of 25kg/hive with good yields of kanuka honey, plus other bush sources and pennyroyal from pastures late in the season. Pohutukawa yields were reported as very good, and one producer who uses intensive colony management produced over 70kg/hive. An estimated total crop of 982 tonnes was produced in the region.
Waikato-King Country-Taupo
An average crop was produced of 1,434 tonnes or 31.5kg/hive, mainly from pasture species, with some good crops from bush sources.
Bay of Plenty-Coromandel-Poverty Bay
The Coromandel and East Coast had a very poor crop with many beekeepers recording 10-20kg/hive. Hives used in kiwifruit pollination usually produce less than equivalent hives not taken to pollination, and this year was no different. The crop reported by Bay of Plenty beekeepers was less than last year and averaged about 25kg/hive.
Hawke's Bay-Taranaki-Manawatu-Wairarapa
Hawke's Bay had an excellent crop averaging 50kg/hive while the other regions were nearer the national average of 30 kg. Taranaki averaged 15kg/hive.
Marlborough-Nelson-Westland
The West Coast experienced heavy rain which depleted the rata crop, but manuka yielded well. Nelson and Marlborough recovered from the 1998/99 droughts and produced reasonable crops of pasture and manuka honey. The total crop was estimated at 705 tonnes, or 26 kg/hive.
Canterbury and North Otago
The season was variable and late with a good average crop over the whole region. The best crops came from the lighter soils in the high country where average yields of 60 kg/hive were reported. The range for the region was 28 kg/hive to over 60 kg/hive.
South Otago-Central Otago-Southland
Southland, South and Coastal Otago had a cold, wet summer with a small honey crop of non-premium honey. Central Otago was also variable with a late flow extending into April. (The honey flow is generally over by late January.) The drought broke in Otago with a variable honey crop. The region as a whole averaged 31 kg/hive, the national average for 1999/2000.
Table 1 shows production trends for the various regions throughout New Zealand.
Source: AgriQuality New Zealand Ltd
* Total estimated production available for extraction divided by total number of registered hives (309,000 for 1999/2000)
Pollination
Most fruit crops experienced good pollination because of the warm settled weather that lasted until November. This allowed good colony build up in bee numbers and bee flight during flowering. Kiwifruit flowering (Hayward variety) was affected by the inclement weather during November. Bee foraging was interrupted and orchardists experienced a lot of bud rot in kiwifruit flowers. Many hives almost starved during the pollination period because of a lack of bee forage.
The varroa mite did not affect pollination this season but is expected to have an effect next year whether or not eradication is attempted. The mite is expected to reduce bee populations, and some beekeepers may choose not to risk exposing their hives to infestation by bringing them into the orchards. Pollination hive standards may have to be reviewed and pollination fees are expected to rise.
Live Bee Exports
The varroa mite was discovered in April 2000 in Auckland, right in the middle of the live bee export season to Canada. Export orders for packages and queen bees worth an estimated $700,000-$800,000 were lost because of the mite. Some markets may be recovered by next season, but others will be lost or restricted to bees from the South Island.
Queen bee movements from the North to South Island are likely to remain prohibited. This will affect queen bee producers in the North Island and also the South Island beekeepers who rely on bees from the north. It is very difficult to produce quality queen bees early in the spring on a sustained basis in the South Island.
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