That's the message Federated Farmers Bee Industry Group chairman John Hartnell was keen to stress at the organisation's field day near Cromwell yesterday.
The first of a two-day conference featuring a range of guest speakers and apiary experts attracted about 100 people to the Lindis Honey site on Bannockburn Rd. Another series of seminars, as well as the group's annual meeting , will be held in Queenstown today.
According to Federated Farmers, as well as the National Beekeepers' Association, more than $3 billion of New Zealand's gross domestic product is directly attributable to the intensive pollination of horticultural and specialty agricultural crops by bees.
New Zealand produces more than 10,000 tonnes of honey a year and its exports are valued at more than $100 million.
In addition, there is a huge indirect contribution through the pollination of clover, used to regenerate nitrogen on farmland, which in turn affects livestock production and sales, including meat exports. However, the industry was under serious threat, Mr Hartnell said.
Top of the list is the varroa mite. Confirmed in the Otago region in May 2010 after it was brought into the Wakatipu area by a hobbyist beekeeper, it kills bee colonies by transmitting viruses from adult honeybees to larvae.
The disease was discovered in New Zealand in 2000. It has been in the South Island since 2006 and MAF Biosecurity New Zealand stopped its South Island varroa response programme on June 30, 2009.
That decision was made after the mite was found outside the official South Island control area in September 2008, making efforts to prevent the spread of the mite impracticable.
Mr Hartnell also pointed to other disease threats, such as Nosema ceranae and American foulbrood. The latter has been present in New Zealand since the 19th century.
Stringent biosecurity was all-important if New Zealand was to avoid the introduction of European foulbrood, Israeli acute paralysis virus and the Asian honeybee, all of which existed in Australia, he added.
Bees also face harm from more than 30 pesticides being used in New Zealand. Mr Hartnell said Federated Farmers encouraged rural contractors to spray safely.
