The NSW south coast's only queen bee breeder is using instrumental insemination to breed colonies resistant to varroa mite. It's a delicate process that only about 50 Australians are trained to do. The Australian Honeybee Industry Council is working to establish a commercially viable, national bee breeding strategy to deal with varroa mite.
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00:00Under microscopic conditions, requiring tiny tools and lots of patience, Laura Patmore
00:08is working to strengthen the genetic make up of her hives against Varroa, one queen
00:13bee at a time.
00:14So that they can help themselves, because the alternative to using those genetics is
00:20we have to use chemicals.
00:22It's similar to how livestock and pets are selectively bred.
00:26So in there she's developing.
00:28By choosing each parent, Laura is creating new generations that are increasingly tolerant
00:33of Varroa mite, a small pest responsible for the collapse of bee colonies worldwide.
00:39It arrived on Australian shores more than 18 months ago, and as of last week, is now
00:44just down the road from Laura's own apiary in Kiama on the NSW South Coast.
00:50The silver lining of that though is we have Varroa, which means I can now find the colonies
00:56that are handling it and breed from them.
00:59It's a huge task for the local mum, believed to be one of around 50 people in Australia
01:05actively practising instrumental insemination.
01:08We can have huge impacts in a very short period, something that would normally take decades.
01:14The work going on here is hoping to emulate the successful efforts of countries like New
01:19Zealand and the United States who have already bred Varroa resistant colonies.
01:24We're able to keep the Varroa mite numbers down in the apiaries, not eliminate it, but
01:29certainly help in reducing the amount of treatments that need to be implemented and reducing the
01:34impacts the mites have on those bees.
01:37So it's a great tool.
01:39The challenge now is cracking the genetic code as fast as possible.
01:43Ultimately we need these programs to be commercially viable enterprises.
01:47It's the only way we'll get the sustainability that we need in the long term.
01:51And it's hoped the knowledge gained here will end up being shared around the country.