Des Cannon ‘Bees: Why we need them and they need us.’

Des, President of the Australian Beekeeper Federation, will discuss the role of bees in pollination of agricultural crops and native flora, including the Australian stingless native bees.

He started keeping bees in 1978 whilst a High School teacher in Canberra, then progressed to teaching beekeeping as a high school horticultural course. In 1984 his hobby became a full time career, and he and his wife, Jenan, became professional beekeepers for the next 25 years. His science background played a role with 11 years on the RIRDC Honey bee R&D Advisory Committee, the last 5 years as Chair. His passion for education also continued, for over 10 years with his wife teaching courses in ‘Beginning in Bees’ and ‘Beekeeping as a Business’ as Education Officers for the NSW Dept of Agriculture. In 2007 he became Editor and later owner (again with his wife) of the national beekeeping journal, The Australasian Beekeeper. For the past three years they have been the Climate Champions for the beekeeping industry within the Managing Climate Variability program.

Des will discuss the dual role of bees in honey/beeswax production, and I will look at and quantify the role bees play in pollination of both agricultural crops and native Australian flora, and also discuss the issue of competition with native fauna. Within this part of the talk he will also look at the wide range of native flora utilised by Australian beekeepers. He will also discuss Australian stingless native bees and the role these species do and could play in pollination. Finally, Des will then examine the problems being experienced by bees across the world, and the situation in Australia in regard to these worldwide problems