An Austrian beekeeper with almost 40 years of experience has revealed that cold springtime conditions may have turned 2023 into his worst-ever harvesting season.
Leisure-time apiarist Walter Böck from Zellerndorf, Lower Austria, said he was bracing for a 50 per cent year-on-year loss.
Walter – who got into beekeeping in 1985 – told NÖN, a regional weekly newspaper: “In spring, we had minus seven degrees centigrade. The acacias froze off. The result was zero acacia honey.”
Walter explained: “If you haven’t got any rapeseed cultivations nearby, you can’t harvest any honey at all until May.”
The passionate hobbyist beekeeper – whose hometown of Zellerndorf is located 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the Austrian-Czech border – added he was cautiously optimistic regarding the effect of sunflowers on his colonies’ foraging activities.
In Austria, only the regional state of Upper Austria counts more beekeepers than Lower Austria where 5,000 apiarists currently manage 40,000 colonies.
All over the Central European country, beekeepers managed 456,000 honeybee colonies in the 2020/2021 business year.
Around 4,100 tonnes of honey were produced.
