Speaker Max Rae - Bee-utiful Honey

Plumber by trade, apiarist by passion, Max Rae knows that in Australia we have the best honey in the world. Max talked to us about how keeping bees for him has been enlightening, humbling, educational and rewarding, and how this deeply satisfying hobby has turned into his full time vocation. 

Bees perform approximately 80% of all pollination and this function alone contributes billions of dollars into the Australian agricultural economy every year. Hives in suburbia do really well and interest in backyard, rooftop, and hobby beekeeping continues to grow.  If you welcome a beehive into your life you can expect about 30 – 50 kg of honey per year. 

We learnt about the medicinal properties of honey and how with some clever marketing in the 1950’s honey went from a health food to a breakfast spread. Humans have been treating wounds and other ailments with honey for thousands of years. 

One of the advantages of producing honey at home is that what comes out of the beehive is what goes in the jar. Completely organic and not blended with any imported honey which may contain pesticides. Due to our relatively mild climate, Australia has the perfect environment to produce honey. European honey bees produce honey all year round. The purpose of this production is to create a food source over the cold European winter for the bees. This is not necessary in our climate, so we can have production all year round. 

Unfortunately the future is grim unless we seriously tackle climate change. Bees are suffering. In Europe flowering seasons are becoming shorter and in Australia drought, extreme weather events floods and bushfires are limiting opportunities for bees to pollinate eucalyptus which accounts for over 80% of our honey production. 

Max left us with the message that we can and must do better to limit the impact of a changing climate on our planet.