Bees

South Australia’s apiculture industry produces up to A$7 million annually from the sale of honey, beeswax and the provision of paid pollination services.

Many of the State’s apiarists, directly or indirectly, provide pollination services to major horticultural and agricultural crops. The result is the production of crops worth in excess of A$120 million annually, of which approximately A$88 million is as a result of bee pollination increasing crop yields. Demand for professional pollination services to increase crop yield and quality is now increasingly recognised as an important element in production by agriculturalists and horticulturalists.

South Australia is especially known for its Kangaroo Island Ligurian bees. This population of bees have been isolated on the Island since 1884 and are believed to be the only pure strain of Ligurian bees in the world. The pure Ligurian bee provides a benchmark for measuring hybridization of honey bees and as a genetic pool of pure Ligurian bees.

Registered apiarists

In 1999, the South Australian apiary industry consisted of around 880 registered apiarists and 73 200 beehives. Of these, the 107 commercial apiarists who own 200 or more hives accounted for 73% (or 53 600) of all registered hives.

From a national perspective, South Australia is ranked fourth for the number of registered apiarists (14% of national total) and hives (13% of national total).

South Australia's apiary industry is regulated under the Livestock Act 1997. Under the Act, apiarists have certain responsibilities to ensure an efficient disease management program and must contribute to the Apiary Industry Fund.

Honey production

South Australia's average annual honey production over the last 5 years (1993–1997) was 4275 tonnes, with annual volume between 3700 and 5000 tonnes. This is about 12% of the national crop – which is approximately 22 400 tonnes annually.

South Australia produces premium honeys with high quality colour, flavour and density. The premium export honeys are derived from lucerne and Salvation Jane (Paterson’s Curse). On the domestic market, the preferred table honeys are derived from eucalypt species including blue gum, red gum and mallee. The food-manufacturing sector prefers darker coloured honeys such as stringy bark, mallee and banksia because of their stronger flavour. All of these floral sources are available in South Australia.