Almond bloom ‘as bright as they’ve ever seen’

Ideal weather conditions has led to a favourable almond pollination across the east coast, despite the ongoing threat from varroa mite.

Ideal conditions and adequate access to beehives has resulted in a stellar pollination season for almond orchards across the eastern seaboard.

It comes as the effect of a recent varroa mite detection in Victoria appears to have been mitigated, with minimal impact on industry.

Almonds Australia chief executive Tim Jackson said almond pollination across NSW and Victoria saw a more intense, shorter blossoming period and sufficient bee flight hours, resulting in an optimistic forecast for the season ahead.

“Pollination and blossom is normally about a month long in most orchards. This year … most people had a flash bloom and things happened a lot quicker. We’re well advanced, and everything came in within two-and-a-half to three weeks across all varieties.” Mr Jackson said.

“We measured the effectiveness and value of our pollination by bee flight hours, and temperatures. Everyone’s reporting that the bloom was as bright as they’ve ever seen.”

Mr Jackson said uptake of educational resources and training as part of the national transition to management plan had been favourable, with many opportunities for beekeepers to diversify their businesses into pollination.

“We’ve seen the evolution of the beekeeping industry since 2022 … some older keepers have recognised the extra work, and are bailing out. But there are more than enough people out there looking for extra hives,” Mr Jackson said.

Almond pollination in 2024 has benefited from ideal bee flight and weather conditions. Picture: Dale Webster

“Once varroa hits, it’ll eventually wipe out the wild and feral European hives across the eastern seaboard, and many horticulture crops reliant on pollination won’t get free pollination. We can see that demand for commercial hives to go up.”

Mr Jackson said the outlook for the remainder of the season was positive, with almond growers feeling optimistic.

Estimates for the 2024 crop – pollinated last year – have been revised down slightly, Mr Jackson said, but still sit at more than 40,000 tonnes estimated kernel weight higher than last season.

Australian Honey Bee Industry Council chief executive Danny Le Feuvre said beekeepers were facing a “perfect storm” of conditions, with low farm gate prices for honey a key issue.

“And a lot of packers are not taking early season honey, from things like canola,” Mr Le Feuvre said.

Mr Le Feuvre said as apiarists access their hives during the spring, he anticipated there could be further detections of the mite in NSW.

“Everyone is still extremely anxious about varroa, there’ll be significant practice changes for beekeepers. We’ve always said this will be a slow burn, the mites come in low numbers and build up over time,” Mr Le Feuvre said.