TOCAL will become home to a research apiary as part of a $1.3 million state government plan to prop up the state’s bee industry.
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The genetic improvement program has won state funding to breed queen bees with superior honey production, disease resistance and pollination performance.
The apiary slated for Tocal Agricultural College is expected to have 250 hives, a honey extraction plant and equipment to allow for instrumental insemination of bees.
Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair said the genetic improvements could be worth up to $41 million over the next 25 years.
“Currently there is no significant genetic improvement of managed honey bees in Australia and anecdotal evidence suggests the quality of breeder queens is declining,” Mr Blair said.
“Our researchers will now begin to evaluate the suitability of Australian and overseas honey bee populations for a range of production and health-related traits and use these results to produce superior queen bees for commercial breeders.”