Tasmanian beekeepers in need of younger workers

The beekeeping industry in Tasmania has a problem: their ageing workforce is not being replaced.

The Tasmanian Beekeepers Association’s Lindsay Bourke in calling on young Australians to consider their industry as a career.

“Beekeeping is a great career for people who like to work with their hands outdoors and be creative,” he said in a media statement.

“There is so much to producing honey, especially leatherwood honey; it involves caring for the bees, ensuring they are healthy and happy, maintaining the hives, extracting the honey and packaging it for sale.”

Mr Bourke says beekeeping also involves marketing, sales, accounting, public relations and general management.

“Australian agriculture needs bees for crop pollination and without them we run the risk of starving; it’s as serious as that,” he says.

“So, without beekeepers, Australia is in a really bad situation. That’s a huge reason for young people to consider Beekeeping as a profession” Mr Bourke says.

TRAINEES

Second-year trainee beekeepers Taiha Jones-Webb and Ange Grabasch agree it’s a great career.

Ms Grabasch, who hails from Beulah in northern Tasmania, worked as an excavator operator before she decided to look for a new challenge.

She says after an initial interview Mr Bourke offered her a traineeship.

“I love it! It was just what I was looking for, perfect timing.”

Ms Jones-Webb, from Launceston, worked in agriculture her whole life.

They both encouraged young people who like working with their hands and outdoor to consider beekeeping.

“There is so much you can do in beekeeping, including travel.” Ms Grabasch said.

A highlight of the year is supplying Package Bees for Canadian beekeepers.

Ms Grabasch explains that Tasmanian Package Bees are needed by the Canadians because of the cold winters and their problems with varroa mite.

For more details: visit www.tasmanianbeekeepers.org.au/ or else https://leatherwoodhoney.org.au/