Beekeeping Industry

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:41): My question is to the Minister for Agriculture. Will the minister consider setting up an advisory committee consisting of beekeepers and farmers who rely on their services to give him, and through him the government, proper and full advice on pollination? With your leave, Mr Speaker, and that of the house I will explain.

Leave granted.

Ms BEDFORD: Currently, beekeepers who provide pollination services represent the production of about $5 million of honey annually. The crops that require pollination services such as almonds, lucerne and others provide several billions of dollars extra to the South Australian economy. As I understand it, currently only the Apiarists' Association, which does not cover all beekeepers, advises the minister.

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE (Chaffey—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (14:42): I thank the member for Florey for a very good question. We know how important bees are to food production. I just need to clarify a couple of things there. Bees provide different levels of service for different jurisdictions.

Obviously, many of us enjoy the golden nectar of a bee, honey, and we have honey bees that produce honey. But we also now have a growing demand for the pollination services. As we have said, in horticulture by and large some of the open-field crops are now relying more heavily on pollination services. We know that with the increased planting of almond farms and nut crops they are now looking for more pollination services.

It has become critical that the apiarist organisations and PIRSA work much more closely together. We know that some apiarists are looking for further direction and support. That is why my department is working with the Department for Environment, looking at ways we can support a bee industry and a growing bee industry.

I think it is also important to understand that when apiarists provide a service for pollination services, they are not making honey. They are using honey. So we are looking at ways that we can investigate the use of honey bees. They are bees that are very aggressive. They are bees that tend to dominate hives. They come in and bully other bees, the working bees and drones, to an extent that they become stressed, stop production, stop making honey, but they also stop the pollination services. At the moment, I know that the apiary services here in South Australia are working very closely with the primary industries department, and they will continue to do so.