Bilpin apple grower fears mystery failed crop could be linked to varroa mite

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Bilpin in the Blue Mountains is known for apple picking, but there are warnings this season's harvest may be smaller than usual.  Farmers are concerned it could be the lingering effects of the varroa mite parasite that's destroyed thousands of bee hives.

Transcript

00:00This apple orchard west of Sydney would normally be in full bloom, but this year's growing

00:11season has fallen short.

00:13We estimate that we have 5-10% of what we'd normally have on the trees.

00:20Farmer Bill Shields runs a pick-your-own business in Bilpin in the Blue Mountains.

00:24He says he's never seen a harvest this small.

00:27It's quite depressing. I mean anyone in agriculture who has a crop failure, you know, they say

00:33what have I done wrong?

00:34With varroa mites still present across the state, producers fear cooler temperatures and

00:39a lack of native bees could be to blame. Since the tiny mite arrived in New South Wales, tens

00:45of thousands of hives have been destroyed.

00:48So it's now quite prevalent because it's being spread around by apriots moving hives

00:53to pollinate food crops.

00:55The primary industries department says the crop failure appears to be isolated to Bilpin

01:00and that for now it's difficult to determine the root cause, but pollination and climatic

01:06conditions may have contributed.

01:08It's strange that it's only happened in that area of the state, but given there's been a

01:13number of different orchards that have shown the same effect, it's difficult to know.

01:18Not all producers have been affected. Up the road, Chris Tedrosi's apple and cherry farm

01:24is teeming with fruit.

01:26If the weather's on your side and you're lucky enough, things will fall into place.

01:30But like I said, you can do the same thing year in year out and get different results.

01:34Pretty resilient bunch. When you're growing fruit with Mother Nature, it throws a lot of obstacles

01:39in front of you.

01:40Obstacles these farmers would rather avoid.

01:44And now you're growing fruit with Mother Nature, let's go to the perquè

01:52in the backyard.

01:54Let's go to sleep with Mother Nature.

01:56When your friends and family come to sleep, you're going to come to sleep with a

02:00half of your life to help you with.

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