Honey

Our Industry

The WA honey is worth about $50 million to the state's economy annually, and the number of beekeepers entering the industry is growing at a rate of around 18% year-on-year.

Where is it grown?

Honey is produced mainly in the South Western areas of Western Australia, however there is some production in Wheatbelt and desert areas.

Flavours of Honey?

Honey varieties are primarily classified by the type of flower the nectar was collected from. When you see a jar labeled as “jarrah” or “red gum,” for instance, that means the nectar source was the flower of the tree of the same name.

Honey that comes from just one source is called a “monafloral” while it’s known as “polyfloral” honey if it’s been produced from the nectar of more than one type of flower.

Main WA types of honey are as follows:

Jarrah
Red Gum
Desert Mallee
Blackbutt
Wandoo

Food You Can Trust Is An Initiative From WAFarmers

Hive of Activity!

Western Australia has 3,185 registered bee keepers with 47,061 hives.

There are 157 Western Australian beekeepers who have 50 or hives.

Honey Production

Within Western Australia, the introduced European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) is the only bee species used for honey production.

Honey production is highly dependent on a number of factors including the weather, flowering times, and nectar yields. Due to this variability, commercial hives can be moved up to 20 times a year to ensure the best conditions for hgh quality honey production.

In addition to honey, other bee related products are also produced in Australia such as bees wax, queen bees and pollination services.

"What is often overlooked...

Is that 44 of our food crops wholly or in part rely on honey bee pollination which adds an additional farm gate value of $6.5 billion.

If a major bee disease arrived in Australia, there would be a 26 per cent decline in national agricultural production, which equates to a consumer surplus loss of between $12.4 billion and $27.2 billion.”

Dr Liz Barbour - Cooperative Research Centre for Honey Bee Products