Travis Shearer and Ben Gibbs talk about the impact of Varroa mite on their beekeeping business.
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00:00Almond pollination is the honeypot of the season for us.
00:03It's one of the biggest livestock events in the country.
00:06We're over 360,000 hives.
00:09We're from Victoria, all around New South Wales
00:11and Queensland down to the Victorian New South Wales border
00:14to pollinate almond trees.
00:16For us, it's quite important.
00:18It's a good chunk of money we get off pollination
00:20to help us fund our business and keep costs going
00:23and helps us grow.
00:25How much is varroa mite affecting the industry
00:28at the moment?
00:29It first started by affecting our movement
00:31around the country.
00:32It made it very difficult for us
00:33to actually move the hives to the almonds.
00:37Once we started working through that
00:38with the local governments,
00:40we were able to move them in
00:42and now we're finding it's the next step.
00:45It's the treatment and what the varroa will do
00:48to the behaviour of the bee
00:49and how that will affect the pollination of the trees.
00:53Are you concerned about varroa mite
00:54with the almond pollination season upon you at the moment?
00:57Yes, it's at the forefront of our minds currently.
01:02We're expecting to get the mite
01:04after this pollination experience.
01:06So it's a bit stressful for us,
01:09but unfortunately, we have to pollinate to run our business
01:13and we're just thinking ahead on how we can treat
01:15once we do get the mite.
01:17What do you think is the best approach in your mind
01:20to tackle the varroa mite going forward?
01:23I believe training is very important.
01:26If we can train beekeepers
01:27on how to use these treatments effectively
01:30to really bring the mite numbers down in hives,
01:32that will help everyone maintain good, healthy bees.