Backyard hives and homemade honey boom as Victorians turn to beekeeping

Backyards are becoming a hive of activity as Victorians swarm to amateur beekeeping — and reap the rewards with booming honey sales at local markets.

There are more than 12,000 registered beekeepers in Victoria alone, with most of those being ‘recreational’ apiarists.

Backyard beekeeping is booming across the state.

Victorian Apiarists’ Association president Phillip McPherson said recreational beekeeping was on the rise.

“There’s been an explosion of interest in bees,” Mr McPherson said.

The number of registered beekeepers across the nation hit more than 30,000 this year, an Australian Honey Bee Industry Council report found.

In Victoria there are more than 12,000 registered beekeepers – the vast majority being recreational, with a small number of hives.

About 2500 new beekeepers have registered in the past 18 months.

Mr McPherson, a second-generation beekeeper, said recreational and small beekeeping operations had been enjoying strong sales at farmers’ markets.

“There’s been a lot of talk the last 12 months about how sales have picked up. They’re selling a lot more honey,” Mr McPherson said.

“People have decided if you buy local, you’re supporting local farmers. Another advantage of buying local is it’s a virtual guarantee of getting the best quality.”

Mr McPherson said it was vital to support local producers.

“The money that they make out of their products, they’re pouring back into the community to employ people and buy equipment and utensils.”

Honey bees may be small but the important insects play a huge role in the agricultural sector.

Honey and other hive products generate about $100 million a year in Australia.

Honey sales have picked up locally over the past 12 months.

But it is their pollination services that really add up.

The contribution of honey bees to agriculture through pollination services was valued at about $14.2 billion in Australia, according to the not-for-profit Wheen Bee Foundation.

Bees play an essential role in pollinating food crops such as almonds, blueberries, avocados and pumpkins

“(About) 90 per cent of the food we produce and eat is pollinated by European honey bees,” Mr McPherson said.

But declining bee populations around the world pose a threat to agriculture and food security.

Globally bees are facing destruction of their natural habitat, toxic agricultural chemicals, and pests and diseases.

There is also the phenomenon of colony collapse disorder, where the majority of worker bees disappear from the hive, and the devastating Varroa mite, which spread viruses and feeds on larvae and adult bees.

Australia is one of the last countries that is free of Varroa mite, which has even found its way to New Zealand.

“We’re lucky in Australia we haven’t got a lot of these viruses yet that overseas have had trouble with,” Mr McPherson said.

It has been a challenging few years for commercial Victorian beekeepers, with years of drought followed by the January bushfires.

“The fires destroyed a lot of forest in Gippsland that won’t improve for another 10-15 years,” he said.

GOURMET NECTAR IS THE BEE’S KNEES

Roger Mitchell’s interest in bees began when he found a swarm living in his shed wall almost 10 years ago.

A beekeeper was moving the bees when Mr Mitchell saw his first honeycomb and he was hooked.

He asked if the bees could remain in his Seddon backyard in a proper hive.

“You take the honey off, that’s a bonus,” Mr Mitchell said. “But it was the fascination with the way bee colonies work that was what interested me most.”

Mr Mitchell’s hobby grew and he began keeping hives in the backyards of friends and family in Seddon, Yarraville, Footscray and Altona.

“They keep the hives in their backyard, I tend to the hives and they get a share of the honey,” he said. “It’s a sort of honey hosting arrangement.”

Mr Mitchell sells his honey under the name All Seddon Done at Footscray Finds Market and through Harry’s & Larry’s General Store in Footscray.

Mr Mitchell said he had noticed an increase in the number of people interested in backyard beekeeping.

“I think it started because people are worried about the fate of bees, and they’re realising just how important bees are to pollination.”

Beekeepers Vanessa Kwiatkowski and Mat Lumalasi can often be found tending to their small charges and checking hives on unused rooftops around Melbourne.

They started urban beekeeping as a hobby a decade ago, now it’s a thriving business, Melbourne City Rooftop Honey.

They produce small batch gourmet honey, which is hand labelled with the hive’s postcode, so people can buy products based on suburb.

“In Melbourne we have that footy team rivalry that we also see with our honey,” Mr Lumalasi said.

“We see some friendly north and south of the river rivalry, which is fun but also people truly love it, they want their local produce.”

Rooftop Honey has more than 130 beehives on unused rooftop spaces across greater Melbourne, and about 30 located in the city.

Mat Lumalasi said they aimed to make ethical and delicious honey while raising awareness about the importance of bees.