Varroa mite threatens Kempsey beekeeping family's honey legacy

But that letter issued by the NSW government in response to the latest Varroa mite detection has meant a beekeeping operation that traces back four generations now has to come to a halt.

"It's our worst nightmare," Natalie Huxley said.

The Huxley family have been beekeepers in the Kempsey region since the 1970s when William Huxley Senior and wife Dorothy, extracted their first drop of honey.

Since then, Ms Huxley and her parents, Donna and William Junior, have been an integral part in the beekeeping business owned by her brothers Todd and Matthew.

They sell their honey to Hive and Wellness (formally Capilano).

William Senior sold his commercial beekeeping business to Dianne and Phillip Nolan in 1988, in which their son Matthew became a commercial beekeeper in the past decade.

"It's one thing to eradicate bees, but this will see beekeepers leave the industry," Mrs Nolan said.

"I told someone the other day, that after 35 years as an apprentice beekeeper, my occupation has changed now, as the red zone forced a change to: I was a beekeeper.

"If that's my fate I can deal with it, but the government needs to understand they are putting highly skilled beekeepers, who I call master beekeepers, as they are masters of their craft, out of business, possibly forever.

"What do they turn their hand to now, as beekeeping is not only a one person approach, in many instances, the whole family works with the registered beekeeper."

The Huxleys and Nolans were notified by word of mouth that their hives were in the red zone after the first detection at Kempsey on August 15 when a beekeeper undertook a mandatory 16-week alcohol wash and found at least one Varroa mite.

A day later, the family had their first hive sampled but it took 12 days before there was an indication of a result.

It followed with a notification letter that their bees would be euthanised while others in the red zone are still waiting for surveillance.

They were then given four days to submit three years worth of data.

This included bee movement, honey extraction and who was involved, all dating back to January 1, 2021, well before the first Varroa mite was detected at the Port of Newcastle in June 2022.

Ms Huxley said they were now in limbo about their future.

She added that the remuneration package was well under what the honey bees, honey, wax and associated hive ware were worth.

"We are not allowed to work the bees at the moment, even if they are in the purple or blue zone," she said.

"We can't get more honey off unless we want to start again in three years' time, or three years from the date of the last red zone declaration.

"So there is no way for us to make money except to sell what we have left at our stall on the side of the road."

She said this would have been the prime production time where they would have split down the hives, made new ones and extracted honey.

Ms Huxley says this outbreak could mean her children including Ari, who is learning the skills of beekeeping, would not be able to continue the family legacy.

"The government hasn't done enough for the primary producers in the honey industry. If this was a mite on koalas, it would be a different story, I don't think they would be euthanising our national icon," she said.

*This story first appeared in The Land