Transition to Management

AHBIC’s Deliverables under T2M:

Code of Practice & Biosecurity Manual

All state peak bodies and jurisdictions have to date received two drafts of the proposed changes to the Code of Practice. AHBICs consultant Michael Clarke has collated the feedback and made required amendments, with a final document being circulated that represents the vast majority of the industries expectations. More information on this can be found within the CEO December Update as part of the latest newsletter. The biosecurity Manual has completed circulation and will be forwarded shortly to meet the final requirements via the T2M and national biosecurity networks. All documents will be shared widely post completion.

Varroa Development Officers

All jurisdictions have now got VDO onboarded and actively working with beekeepers in each state, AHBIC overseas and provides guidance for all 35 VDO and their coordinators across the country. The VDOs have been extremely busy engaging with beekeepers, groups and clubs, making sure to reach their key performance targets covering numbers of engagements, regional distribution and association visits. Between March and 17 December 2024 the VDOs have engaged with over 9000 beekeepers across the country. The below map showing the regional distribution to date.

 

Contact a VDO for hands-on, face-to-face varroa management support, visit the team here: https://www.varroa.org.au/vdo

Coming in 2024:

Australian Coloss Survey

A team of dedicated people have successfully commenced work on the Australian Coloss Survey project. The project is managed via the AgriFutures Honey & Pollination Panel, but is funded and deliverable under the T2M via AHBIC. It is hoped that in the new year, the Coloss project will launch their dedicated website and begin collaborating directly with industry as the numerous stages begin to take shape.

Queen breeding workshops

Early in February 2025, AHBIC will be consulting with the queen bee breeding sector of industry. It is expected these planning meetings will assist in decisions relating to the formulation of queen bee breeding with varroa, sector specific content, delivery locations and a process forward to carry out the activity mid-2025.

 T2M National Training and Education

Varroa management training workshops have rolled out across 76 locations around the country in 2024 and will resume from February 2025, see the website to register for a workshop across WA, VIC and QLD in the new year: https://www.varroa.org.au/training. Dr Nadine Chapman, Education Coordinator T2M, has also re-launched the Varroa Basic’s online training accessible to all beekeepers: https://www.varroa.org.au/online-training . The face-to-face workshops will be converted into a two-part online training resource available to beekeepers nationally from February 2025. AHBIC will update details of how to access these when they become available.

In addition to the varroa management training the education component is yet to finalise the resource and delivery of the required two-day farm business training for beekeepers, when this information comes to hand, AHBIC will be sure to share the details with industry.

T2M Bee Virus Baseline Survey Underway

A national virus baseline survey has commenced within the T2M to sample bees from across all jurisdictions. The samples will be tested for endemic and exotic virus’ to establish a national virus baseline and provide continued confidence that Australia remains free of deformed wing virus. Expressions of interest are open for Queensland and Victorian beekeepers whom wish to participate. Details of the project can be found here: https://www.varroa.org.au/baseline

Maximum Residue Limits(MRLs)

Over recent weeks and months we have been gathering some details from domestic and international MRL testing laboratories and have summarised these on the AHBIC website.

Please follow this link to find out more on MRL testing: https://honeybee.org.au/industry-hub/maximum-residue-limits/

 

You can reach out to AHBIC via:

National Varroa Mite Coordinator 

Bianca Giggins

0402 467 780

bianca@honeybee.org.au

AHBIC, its employees, executive and consultants expressly disclaim all and any liability to any person in respect of anything, and the consequences of anything, done or omitted to be done in reliance, whether wholly, partly, upon the whole or any part of the contents of this industry update document.