• Knowledge of bee-culture and of prevalent bee diseases and necessary control measures.
• Ability to comprehend and learn the Apiary Act.
• Ability to handle bees without gloves in order to prevent spreading bee diseases. An inspector must be able to tolerate being stung repeatedly.
• Ability to maintain records and to compile reports.
• Ability to establish effective contacts with beekeepers, and to present information relating to bee-culture and disease control.
  

Varroa destructor is a distinctive-looking small mite, around 1mm in diameter. it is reddish-brown colour and can be seen with the naked eye.
  
Varroa destructor is an external parasitic mite that attacks European honey bees and the Asian honey bee (Apis cerana). This mite is thought to be one of the greatest threats to our honey and honey bee pollination plant industries.

The mite attaches itself to the bee and feeds on them. It weakens them and kills colonies. European honey bees infested with varroa are likely to die within 3 to 4 years if left untreated. The mite also transmits honey bee viruses.

If the mite established here, we could lose most wild European honey bee nests. We would also lose managed hives that are not adapted to Varroa mite. This would significantly reduce pollination and result in estimated losses of over $70 million a year.
(Source: Outbreak)

Hives will be destroyed in the Kempsey area after a Varroa Mite detection - August 2023
(Source: ABC News)

Below is an example of physical destruction methods to eradicate the Yarroa Mite.

• Visits beekeepers and inspects honey bee colonies
• Checks compliance with existing laws, rules and regulations.
• Promotes the prevention and control of communicable disease among honey bees.
• Advises and directs the disposal of infected apiary equipment according to existing rules and regulations.
• Issues reports of apiary inspections and maintains records.
• Reports violators of law, rules or regulations.
• Performs related work as required.

Spread of Yarroa Mite in NSW - August 2024
(Source: DPI)

Working conditions

Apiary Inspectors or Officers have to be fully protected with beekeeper's uniform. They conduct bee biosecurity inspections when they visit horticultural operations across the State (where they are employed).
   
During these visits, the officers performed hundreds of brood inspections to assess colony health, conducted drone uncapping (image above) and alcohol washing for external mite surveillance, and collected honey samples for American foulbrood (AFB) and European foulbrood (EFB) testing. Some parts of Australia remain free from EFB and this testing was for surveillance only.

The officers also completed compliance checks for registration, branding, and apiary signage, which are all requirements of the Bee Industry Biosecurity Code of Practice.

• Lack of branding or failure to strike-out former brands was one of the more common issues. Beekeepers are reminded that these offences carry penalties as branding hives is a legal requirement. Correct branding is crucial for identification of ownership and helps biosecurity officers to trace outbreaks during an incident.

• Dead-out hives in the apiary was another issue for the Apiary Inspectors. There can be issues around swarming, queenlessness and/or understrength colonies  - common beekeeping challenges. However, dead outs, delivered by paid, professional beekeepers are disturbing discoveries.

• Exposed, used hives are a biosecurity risk. It is an offence to leave hives, parts of hives including frames, combs, honey or beeswax, or appliances containing honey exposed to robber bees. Diseases, such as AFB, can quickly spread through bees robbing from these exposed materials. 

Tools and technologies

Apiary Inspectors have been trained in specialised visualisation skills as well as the availability of miticides, sticky mats, icinging sugar (sticks to mites legs and they can't hold onto the bee), and  mite alcohol washes - and that's just for the varroa mite. There are other virus and diseases that Apiary Officers /Inspectors look for within bee hives.

Did You Know? Purple Hive Project Vignesh Murugan (left) and Joel Kuperholz, co-developers of the Purple Hive. With off-the-shelf parts, artificial intelligence and a little ingenuity, two engineers have devised a purple box that could save the agricultural industry millions. As young researchers with a start-up company, Vimana Tech, Mechatronics Engineer Joel Kuperholz and Astrophysicist Vignesh Murugan knew they wanted their engineering to help people. “Along the journey we were trying to better understand: what are the key, key challenges in agriculture?” One of those crucial challenges was Varroa destructor: a tiny mite that strikes fear into the heart of beekeepers. Varroa has decimated hives around the world but was yet to become established in Australia [it is now]. Kuperholz and Murugan started building prototype systems to detect Varroa and were soon introduced to the food company Bega. Working together on what would become the Purple Hive Project. It's purple because the colour is kind to a bee's sense of sight, and looks like a letterbox attached to the front of a hive. The entry slot contains sophisticated surveillance equipment. The purple hives are equipped with high-definition cameras and AI technology to scan bees for the deadly parasite, Varroa Mite, and are solar-powered Purple Hive Project https://youtu.be/KcPBLImSX60?si=sBSUjtXduku9Rk35 How the Purple Hive works Purple Hive is a solar-powered artificial intelligence device trained to detect Varroa. Every time a bee flies into a Purple Hive, it’s directed through a series of small glass slides. “It’s like this little tunnel that allows you to actually look into [the hive] and monitor each bee,” Murugan said. Two cameras — one above and one below — capture each bee from 360 degrees. "It's got two cameras, one top, one bottom," explained co-developer Vignesh Murugan of the Melbourne-based Virmana Tech company. "As a bee comes through the front slit we monitor the bees, take an image every second and detect whether varroa mite is there." Individual images of thousands of bees per hive are taken over the course of a day. That's where artificial intelligence comes into play. "So what's happening here is we've trained AI to count bees and detect hitchhiking varroa mites." The AI observes each individual bee, checks for any hitchhiking mites, and triggers a biosecurity alert if Varroa is detected. If the mite is detected, an alarm signal can be sent instantly to a device such as a mobile phone. At present [2020], quarantine inspectors conduct regular physical inspections of so-called 'sentinel beehives' placed at ports and other points of entry to Australia to detect if the mite has arrived. "If technology alerts you on your phone, you instantly know there's a problem. You can go out and do something about it," said Aris Petratos. Before the Purple Hive In Australia, beekeepers regularly check their hives for Varroa with painstaking manual detection methods. The most common is the “sugar shake” test, which sees beekeepers dust their bees in icing sugar. The fine granules stick to the mites’ feet, causing them to lose their grip on the bees and fall into the white sugar where they are more easily seen. “Bringing this type of technology to agriculture and the beekeeping industry … it’s been fantastic.” (Sources: Create Digital; To see the Biology and how Varroa mites kill bees go to these Educational Videos (21) from  Ecrokek in NZ.

Education and training/entrance requirements

One year of experience as a beekeeper or in related work affording a knowledge of bee handling and bee disease or Diploma or Degree, majoring in a biological field including a course in apiculture; or 6 months beekeeping experience and a beekeeping short course.

What is a Bee Broker?

Many farmers, recognizing the important role that bees play in pollination, rent beehives to ensure the best pollination of their fruit and other crops. Their crops are too valuable to be dependent on wild pollinators alone. Growers look at the number of flowers they have in their fields or orchards in order to determine how many hives they need for optimum pollination.

Beekeepers who rent out their bee colonies for pollination may move their hives several times to accommodate the different flowering times of various crops. They may even move hives across States.

A Bee Broker organises the hives from the Beekeepers to be delivered to the Growers that need the bees for a fee.

"Honey bees represent by far the most commercialized provider of pollination services, with farmers across the world paying beekeepers to ferry their hives into fields of apples and almonds so that the bees flit from flower to flower, transferring pollen and allowing the fruit and nuts to develop."  (The Conversation)

(Source: ABC News 27 October 2019 & Landline)

"There are only a handful of bee brokers in Australia. Each year, they coordinate millions of bees and hundreds of beekeepers across States to pollinate Australia's booming almond orchards in northern Victoria.


When the bee trucks hit the highways just before spring with more than 1.5 billion bees on board, it's the biggest movement of livestock in Australian history.

And yes, the Australian Tax Office classifies bees as livestock.


"I have had people describe my job as like trying to round up cats on a horse," joked Trevor Monson, now in his fortieth year of bee broking.

Each winter, Mr Monson books in beekeepers and ensures they deliver fit, healthy bees on time and ready to work the flowers.

"We get contracts from the almond company and then we source bees to fill that contract," he said.
"We plan on where the bees are going, we design the hive drops, and we audit 10 per cent of the bees so we're satisfied they're worth being paid.
"We do all the financing and send out the cheques, and then send the bees home again."

This season, Mr Monson contracted 200 beekeepers to deliver 110,000 hives.

This year, Mr Monson's northernmost bees came from Queensland's Sunshine Coast.(Source: ABC News 27 October 2019 & Landline)

Key points Bee brokers transport European honey bees across the country to pollinate crops Beekeepers are increasingly turning to pollination services, rather than honey production More bees are needed to keep up with growing demand The Conversation 23 May 2018 To optimise yields, most growers [Almonds, blueberries, apples, melons] rent European honeybee hives during crop flowering season. Honeybees were first introduced to Australia from Europe in the early 1800s. Today, the beekeeping industry includes around 600,000 managed hives and is worth around A$100 million to Australia’s economy. Managed crop pollination services have become big business in many parts of the world, including Australia. Although most beekeepers do still keep bee hives to produce honey or wax products, paid pollination services are becoming increasingly important to the industry. In Australia, the almond industry is one of the biggest renters of honeybee hives for pollination. Almonds bloom for a few weeks at the end of August and rely almost completely on insect pollination to produce harvestable almond fruits. The many plantations across northwestern Victoria rent more than 150,000 hives each year, costing millions of dollars in rental fees. Costs per hive vary depending on the crop, covering costs to the beekeeper such as how far they have to travel, the time of year (early season pollination can be more stressful for honey bees and require more feeding costs for beekeepers to maintain hive health), and the risks (e.g. chemicals) bees might face in the crop. For almond pollination, one hive can cost around $70-100 to rent.

Trevor Monson and his team inspecting hives for almond pollination
(Source: Nadine Chapman, USyd)

ABC Landline
Bee Future: Precious honey bees in short supply 5 April 2020

Pollination agreements

Hiring hives is the most common solution for obtaining managed hives needed for pollination. Hives are usually hired directly from beekeepers or from brokers working for beekeepers or growers. This approach has the advantage that the growers can specify exactly what they require.

It may take a beekeeper a long amount of time to prepare colonies suitable for pollination, especially if the pollination period is in early spring, or during a period when there is commonly a honey flow. In many cases, the preparation work by beekeepers to get their hives ready for effective pollination can take many months. Therefore, is it is critical that growers order hives from beekeepers/beebrokers early enough to ensure adequate supply.

When hiring honey bee colonies, many beekeepers/beebrokers and growers find it preferable to use a written pollination agreement that clearly specifies the responsibilities of both parties. Agreements, or contracts, are useful as there is no confusion over what the grower thinks they are hiring and what the beekeeper/beebroker thinks they need to supply. They become very important if there are any problems with what is supplied or what happens to the hives once they are in the crop.

Although pollination agreements can vary, some of the key aspects of a pollination agreement should specify:

• names and addresses of the parties concerned and the date of the agreement
• location of the crop
• number of colonies hired
• timing of delivery of the hives
• strength of the colonies hired (number of frames of brood and bees)
• distribution of hives throughout the crop
• length of notice required before shifting hives in and out of the crop
• rental fees and terms of payment
• an arbitrator in the event of a dispute
• permission and protocol for an independent audit of hive quality if required
• action to be taken if an audit is failed
• protection of hives from pesticide damage while in the crop
• witness to the agreement.

Written pollination agreements protect all parties and eliminate misunderstandings between beekeepers and growers. Establishing a pollination contract is also considered best practice. Both beekeepers and growers will benefit from the adoption of best practice pollination services.

When establishing a pollination agreement you should always seek legal advice.

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The Conversation 24 April 2024

Related Jobs or Working with these Jobs

Agricultural Scientist	Biosecurity Officer	Botanist	Crop Farmer
Farmer	Inventor	Livestock Farmer

Materials sourced from
Rural Careers; 
WebArchive Only - CareerHQ [Beekeeper];
WebArchive Only - CareersOnline [Beekeeper;];
Bee Broker ABC News 27 October 2019 & Landline
Monsons Honey
BeeAware
Techno-Science Canada
Careers PA Govt [Apiary Inspector; ]
Honey Bee [Eyes in the Apiary;]
 Your Career [Beekeeper; ]