10-19-2008, 01:54 AM
By Paul Eccleston
Last Updated: 4:01pm BST 16/10/2008
The catastrophic decline in honey bee numbers has continued with populations down 30 per cent on last year.
Combined with another wet summer - which prevented the bees gathering pollen - it has resulted in a honey shortage.
Stuart Bailey, chairman of the UK's biggest producer, Rowse Honey, said: "Supplies continue to dribble through and we might have enough for another six weeks or so but I expect it to be gone before Christmas."
Amateur beekeepers in England produce about 3,000 tonnes annually but the bulk - 80 per cent - is distributed to family and friends or sold at the garden gate or at farmers' markets.
Supermarkets and shops rely on a few dozen big commercial honey farms for their supplies of English honey but there is much less available this year.
Rowse, who have a third of the market in the UK, had hoped to supply supermarkets with 250 tonnes but Mr Bailey thinks it may be only half that amount.
"It has been a terrible, terrible year possibly the worst for 28 years. Bee numbers are down again and the weather has been so bad it has prevented them from foraging. We will be lucky if the total honey crop this year amounts to 2,000 tonnes," he said.
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About 30,000 tonnes of honey is consumed annually in the UK and 90 per cent is imported - mainly from Argentina, Mexico, and Hungary.
But the decline in bee numbers is a worldwide problem, particularly in North America where the fruit growing areas of California and Florida have been especially hard hit by so-called colony collapse disorder. The result has produced shortages and pushed up costs by as much as 60 per cent.
Prices are still comparatively low because of competition between the big High Street supermarkets with honey marked down as a loss leader.
Despite a bumper harvest for English apples this year, thanks to a warm frost-free Spring and a wet summer, there are fears that fruit production will also be affected by the dearth of bees.
Bees pollinate an estimated 90 per cent of the apple crop, 30 per cent of the pear crop and much of the soft fruits such as strawberry and raspberry.
Adrian Barlow, chief executive of English Apples and Pears, said: "We are currently in the midst of English apple season. The threat to the honeybee is a huge concern as without bees to pollinate orchards, there would be a real risk of apple shortages in the future."
The apple-dependent cider industry is also worried. Martin Ridler, orchard controller for Gaymers Cider, said: "We need beehives in orchards because we rely on honeybees to pollinate apple blossom in Spring.
"You can hope for insects and the wind to help but honeybees guarantee pollination."
Next month the British Bee Keepers Association (BBKA) which represents amateurs and has about 12,000 members, will be lobbying Parliament and handing in a petition to Downing Street demanding that more money is spent on research into the diseases thought to be responsible for decimating bee populations.
And more than 100 MPs have signed an early day motion called for the Government to take the problem more seriously.
The BBKA claims that bees are worth ã165m to the economy because of their vital role in crop pollination and wants ã8m spent on research over the next five years.
Initially the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) earmarked only ã200,000 for research into bee diseases but found an extra ã90,000 after admitting that there had been "significant" colony losses across the country.
Rowse Honey has pledged ã100,000 over three years towards research.
Defra is drawing up a new strategy for bees but it is unlikely to be published until next Spring. The parasitic varoa mite, viruses, pesticides, a shortage of nectar caused by changes in farming practices, and even stress have been suggested as the main reasons for the bee decline.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jh...ney116.xml
Last Updated: 4:01pm BST 16/10/2008
The catastrophic decline in honey bee numbers has continued with populations down 30 per cent on last year.
Combined with another wet summer - which prevented the bees gathering pollen - it has resulted in a honey shortage.
Stuart Bailey, chairman of the UK's biggest producer, Rowse Honey, said: "Supplies continue to dribble through and we might have enough for another six weeks or so but I expect it to be gone before Christmas."
Amateur beekeepers in England produce about 3,000 tonnes annually but the bulk - 80 per cent - is distributed to family and friends or sold at the garden gate or at farmers' markets.
Supermarkets and shops rely on a few dozen big commercial honey farms for their supplies of English honey but there is much less available this year.
Rowse, who have a third of the market in the UK, had hoped to supply supermarkets with 250 tonnes but Mr Bailey thinks it may be only half that amount.
"It has been a terrible, terrible year possibly the worst for 28 years. Bee numbers are down again and the weather has been so bad it has prevented them from foraging. We will be lucky if the total honey crop this year amounts to 2,000 tonnes," he said.
advertisement
About 30,000 tonnes of honey is consumed annually in the UK and 90 per cent is imported - mainly from Argentina, Mexico, and Hungary.
But the decline in bee numbers is a worldwide problem, particularly in North America where the fruit growing areas of California and Florida have been especially hard hit by so-called colony collapse disorder. The result has produced shortages and pushed up costs by as much as 60 per cent.
Prices are still comparatively low because of competition between the big High Street supermarkets with honey marked down as a loss leader.
Despite a bumper harvest for English apples this year, thanks to a warm frost-free Spring and a wet summer, there are fears that fruit production will also be affected by the dearth of bees.
Bees pollinate an estimated 90 per cent of the apple crop, 30 per cent of the pear crop and much of the soft fruits such as strawberry and raspberry.
Adrian Barlow, chief executive of English Apples and Pears, said: "We are currently in the midst of English apple season. The threat to the honeybee is a huge concern as without bees to pollinate orchards, there would be a real risk of apple shortages in the future."
The apple-dependent cider industry is also worried. Martin Ridler, orchard controller for Gaymers Cider, said: "We need beehives in orchards because we rely on honeybees to pollinate apple blossom in Spring.
"You can hope for insects and the wind to help but honeybees guarantee pollination."
Next month the British Bee Keepers Association (BBKA) which represents amateurs and has about 12,000 members, will be lobbying Parliament and handing in a petition to Downing Street demanding that more money is spent on research into the diseases thought to be responsible for decimating bee populations.
And more than 100 MPs have signed an early day motion called for the Government to take the problem more seriously.
The BBKA claims that bees are worth ã165m to the economy because of their vital role in crop pollination and wants ã8m spent on research over the next five years.
Initially the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) earmarked only ã200,000 for research into bee diseases but found an extra ã90,000 after admitting that there had been "significant" colony losses across the country.
Rowse Honey has pledged ã100,000 over three years towards research.
Defra is drawing up a new strategy for bees but it is unlikely to be published until next Spring. The parasitic varoa mite, viruses, pesticides, a shortage of nectar caused by changes in farming practices, and even stress have been suggested as the main reasons for the bee decline.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jh...ney116.xml
