Bee welfare 'crucial' to NZ, MPs told

(article from Dominion Post, 12/05/2011)

Bees need more consideration in agriculture policy if New Zealand is to avoid a pollinator crisis, MPs have been told. In a briefing to a parliamentary local government and environment committee today, New Zealand Beekeepers' Association said pollination was at risk from a cocktail of dangers to bees. As well as pests and diseases, bees faced threats from neonicotinoid pesticides, which have been linked to bee deaths.

The varroa mite, which injects viruses, suppresses the bees' immune system and feeds on their body fluids, was noted as one of the biggest threats. If a hive is untreated, it can take just 1000 mites to kill a colony of 50,000 bees.

Landcare Research scientist Linda Newstron-Lloyd said colony collapses could have a dramatic effect on New Zealand's fruit and vegetable export market, as well as the domestic market, and that bees needed to be taken into account in policy development.

"It's not even on the radar right now, because no one understands that there is a looming pollinator crisis in New Zealand," she said. "We need bees to be on the agenda when people start developing policy issues for anything, be it irrigation, carbon credits, weed elimination, whatever, we need to have an eye to the bees. "You can have your dairy farms but let's do it in a way that isn't going to compromise the bees." Ms Newstron-Lloyd said Europe and the United States had already suffered huge colony losses, and New Zealand had a chance to learn from those countries.

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PGP funding positive sign for honey industry

Media Statement, Hon David Carter, Minister of Agriculture

A successful bid by a Manuka honey industry consortium for Primary Growth Partnership funding is a sign the industry has the potential to grow significantly, says Agriculture Minister David Carter.

The Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) is to fund half of a $1.7 million research programme proposed by the consortium to increase the reliability of supply and volume of medical grade Manuka honey. Mr Carter has welcomed the approval of the proposal which lifts the total government-industry commitment to PGP programmes to $477 million over 18 months. The Government has contributed more than $218 million. “The Government’s investment in this latest proposal is what the PGP is all about – a commitment to significantly boost economic growth through research and innovation right across the primary sector. “I congratulate this consortium on meeting the robust approval process and I wish it every success in its bid to expand into a billion-dollar industry.”

Mr Carter says the nine programmes approved for PGP investment since 2009 represent the largest investment by Government in primary sector innovation in decades.