00:00It's usually a sweet business, but there's a new sting in the tail, with bee-killing
00:07parasite varroa mite detected in SA for the first time.
00:10It's going to be a massive change for us and we're going to have to work it out pretty
00:14quickly because you can't make mistakes with this because if you make mistakes you've
00:18got dead hives.
00:19The infested hives were found in the Riverland town of Puchinook, part of a consignment of
00:24hundreds of hives from Queensland delivered to pollinate almond trees.
00:29Authorities are taking a management approach.
00:31We knew that varroa mite would be coming to SA eventually, it's already in New South Wales,
00:36Victoria, Queensland, the ACT.
00:38Fear of the parasite spread has some planning to quit the business.
00:41I just said that's it, once varroa gets here we're going to pull a pin.
00:46And with bee pollination the cornerstone of much horticulture, producers are worried.
00:50We're 100% reliant on bees, apart from the small minority that have self-hurtile varieties.
00:56So the impact of not having bees would have been catastrophic.
01:00SA's almond industry says it needs 60,000 hives and interstate bees are vital.
01:06Many almond growers depend on managed beehives for pollination.
01:10But other types of horticulture like this avocado farm rely on feral bees and they hold grave concerns
01:17over the mites impact on wild colonies, which risk being wiped out.
01:22The biggest loss will be when the feral bees go, then we'll have to look at how we fill that gap.
01:27It's going to have a huge impact on the feral bee colonies.
01:30They're talking 90 to 95% death.
01:33Western Australia, Tasmania and DNT are the only regions that remain free of this devastating mite.
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