Beekeepers to benefit from innovative bee breeding technologies

The Plan Bee Breeding manual will assist queen bee breeders to capture and record data on their queens, helping them selectively breed for specific traits to produce stronger and healthier bees.

President of the NSW Apiarists' Association Steve Cunial said that the development of the sustainable national bee breeding program would elevate the performance of honey bees in Australia and build its value on top of what is already a $14.2 billion dollar industry.

"Queen bees are at the heart of any beekeeping operation and having access to genetically superior queen bees will increase productivity, minimise disease and improve the profitability of beekeeping businesses," Mr Cunial said.

At Cunial Beekeeping, anywhere between six to 700 queen bees are purchased every year, making it crucial to choose bees with healthy genetics.

"The manual will now allow beekeepers to purchase queen bees with the genetic traits that most suit their business" Mr Cunial said.

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According to Dr Nadine Chapman from the University of Sydney, the launch of the manual would 'turbocharge the continual growth of the beekeeping industry.'

"This resource will now help us unlock the potential of the beekeeping industry by helping queen bee breeders produce queens that lead to more productive, more efficient bees with lowers costs associated with disease management" Mrs Chapman said.

The program is also still recruiting queen bee breeders to record data on their queens and share with the national genetics program, to further bolster genetics and breeding outcomes.

This data will then be used to support other beekeepers in their quest for genetic improvement within their hives, which will ultimately improve and boost the productivity and profitability of the entire honey bee and pollination industry.

"As in any livestock operation the better genetics that are used, the better the outcomes," Mr Cunial said.

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