World Bee Day: New Zealand leads world in ongoing battle to keep bees healthy and productive

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Bees play a crucial role as pollinators in the global food chain, but 2025 has brought mixed fortunes for beekeepers. While honey prices are rebounding from a post-COVID slump, bee populations in North America and Europe are sharply declining due to habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change. As our correspondent Owen Poland reports, New Zealand is leading global efforts to keep bees healthy and productive.  

"So we are taking a sample of bees from this hive."

As winter approaches in New Zealand, bee-keepers are inspecting hives for pests – like the deadly Varroa mite – that destroys honey bee colonies around the world.

SARAH CROSS Waikato Domestic Beekeepers Association "So some of them are what's called notifiable diseases, which means if we see them in the hive, we have to tell the government that they are in there to make sure that they are looked after and sorted out."

Bee-keepers follow a national strategy that includes the use of organic rather than chemical methods to control pests. And there's a collective responsibility to keep healthy bees.

SARAH CROSS Waikato Domestic Beekeepers Association "So if your hive is sick or weak or has pests and diseases, they can fly out and pass them on to other bees and other communities. So we are not only looking after our own but looking after this whole community."

Scientists are also conducting experiments to discover new ways for farmers to spray chemicals on crops without harming the bees.

DR. JAMES SAINSBURY Plant & Food Science Team Leader "It could be about the time of day or the time of year that these chemicals may be applied to minimize unintended effects on honey bees."

OWEN POLAND Hamilton, New Zealand "Like many countries, New Zealand has experienced a sharp decline in beekeepers and hives in recent years – mainly due to falling demand for honey. But the value of honey exports is still expected to double over the next five years to more than one billion New Zealand dollars."

New Zealand ranks alongside China as the world's largest honey exporter, and the highest grade manuka honey can fetch more than a thousand dollars a kilo. But it's more than just about the economic return for beekeepers.

SARAH CROSS Waikato Domestic Beekeepers Association "You are increasing biodiversity, you are helping pollination, you're helping our native plants and our food crops and things like that. Oh it's very personal to know that you're doing all these wonderful things, not only for yourself but your whole environment, for your whole country. Oh yeah."

New Zealand's strict biosecurity laws have played a big part in controlling the introduction of new pests and diseases. And because bees pollinate around 35 per cent of the world's food crops, scientists are investigating the use of light-weight bee tubes to boost pollination in fruit trees.

DR. JAMES SAINSBURY Plant & Food Science Team Leader "If you've got you know a handful of beehives they'll often just end up in the corner. Whereas in this way you can spread the bees through the orchard much more effectively."

As for World Bee Day, Sarah will do what she always does.

SARAH CROSS Waikato Domestic Beekeepers Association "I not only do beekeeping, but I take bees into schools, and so I teach the next generation coming up how important bees are."

And New Zealand's scientists are happy to share their knowledge with the rest of the world.

DR. JAMES SAINSBURY Plant & Food Science Team Leader "Things that are good for bees in New Zealand are good for things, for bees that are all over the world. So it's really about having happy, healthy, productive honey bees when and where you needthem."

Owen Poland, CGTN, Hamilton.