20/05/2026
Happy World Bee Day!
I was nearly just going to tell you all to head down to Byron Wildlife Sanctuary for their World Bee Day celebrations this Saturday. Head there anyway, they are raffling a great Ballina Honey Gift Hamper with a great range of goodies - it even has some of our tasty Honeyvale Farm salamis😋
But there is something more important to talk about. For many Australian beekeepers and their bees this has been the hardest year of their lives. For a lot of Queensland, South Australian and Victorian beekeepers this coming season will be the hardest they have even seen. Depending on where you live, you may have noticed a lack of bees getting around your garden pollinating your veggie patch this year. 95% of our feral European honeybees have died in the Northern Rivers. Varroa mite is the world's worst pest of European bees, and it is spreading like a suffocating virus laden mat across Australia's bees, radiating out from New South Wales. It is hard to take in the sheer scale of the impact on bees, beekeepers and the industry as a whole. The photos are from my Nuffield travels - showing us that beekeeping goes on, even with Varroa mite.
Hear beekeeper Stephen McGrath tell his story:
Commercial beekeeper Stephen McGrath has worked bees for more than 50 years — and says he has never seen devastation like what the industry is facing since Varroa arrived in NSW. Many family beekeeping businesses are selling up because they can no longer see a future in bees or beekeeping.
“The cost of treating Varroa is breaking bank balances,” Stephen says. Years of drought, low honey prices, cheap imports, bushfires, COVID lockdowns, border closures and now Varroa have left many of Australia’s best commercial beekeepers struggling to survive.
When Stephen first discovered Varroa in his own bees, the first treatment cost $30,000 for 2,000 hives — followed by two more treatments about ten weeks apart. Treatments cannot simply be repeated indefinitely, and options become limited in extreme heat. “Not many beekeepers have that sort of money sitting in the bank,” he says.
Reports of catastrophic hive losses began appearing on the South Coast, then the Central West, where some operators reportedly lost hundreds of hives. Since then, many more have lost thousands. “It’s devastating. Beekeepers can’t explain what’s happening and feel completely alone trying to survive.”
Stephen describes moving strong hives onto canola near Hillston, NSW, only to return days later to find massive bee losses. Despite treatments and interventions, the hives continued collapsing until the entire load was gone. “It’s more than just Varroa. It’s the viruses Varroa carries that could be wiping out millions of bees.”
The only comparable devastation he recalls in over 50 years was during grasshopper spraying campaigns in the late 1970s. Varroa spread rapidly into Stephen’s area through pollination movements into almond-growing regions around Griffith and Hillston. Border closures during COVID then prevented Victorian almond pollination contracts, leaving many operators without income.
“We’ve gone from bushfires to lockdowns to border closures and now Varroa. It’s been financially disastrous.” Reinfection is now a constant issue. Wild colonies collapsing from Varroa and small hive beetle pressures are creating drifting and robbing events that rapidly spread mites back into treated apiaries. Extreme temperatures are also limiting treatment options.
Stephen warns that pollination costs for cherries and other crops could soon rise to almond-level pricing because there may simply not be enough healthy bees or commercial beekeepers left. “Within two years there may not be enough bees to pollinate all the almonds and other crops.”
He says smaller operators who once carried much of the orchard pollination burden have already lost colonies or left the industry entirely.
“Varroa is to the beekeeping industry what Foot-and-Mouth Disease would be to livestock.”
While recent government funding announcements are welcomed, Stephen says little direct support reaches struggling beekeepers.
“We’re not asking for handouts. We’re asking for recognition of the value of bees and beekeepers.”
Stephen says fuel costs, beesite fees, feeding costs and labour pressures are crippling operations. Commercial beekeepers receive no fuel rebate despite transporting hives thousands of kilometres annually.
Feeding bees can cost $1,200–$1,500 per tonne for sugar products, plus expensive pollen supplements. Many operators simply cannot afford both feeding and Varroa treatment.
Stephen alone says he has lost over 1,000 hives in the last twelve months.
“Dead boxes are stacked in sheds and paddocks waiting to be rebuilt.”
“In 2019 I employed up to six people. In 2026 I’m basically working by myself.”
Stephen says apprenticeship programs could help train the next generation of commercial beekeepers, especially young regional and First Nations Australians.
He also points to shrinking access to beesites due to national park changes, corporate farm ownership and widespread land clearing.
“Everything in today’s world is against bees and beekeepers.”
Normally supplying around 140 tonnes of Australian honey annually, Stephen says he has not supplied any honey this season due to the impacts of Varroa.
At the same time, he says low honey prices — driven partly by imported honey and industry pressures — have pushed many operations below the cost of production.
After years of bushfires, drought, lockdowns and Varroa, Stephen says many commercial beekeepers are emotionally and financially exhausted. “Beekeeping is a hard life. Days and weeks away from your family, and very little to show for it in recent years.”
“But you get back up and fight another day.” Stephen finished by thanking his family and friends for helping him through the last few difficult years. “It’s so much appreciated.”
— Stephen McGrath
