Flavorite Hydroponic Tomatoes - Bumblebees for Pollination

Bumblebees

Bumblebees for Pollination of Greenhouse
Tomato Crops

ADVISORY INFORMATION
BUMBLEBEES (BOMBUS TERRESTRIS) FOR POLLINATION OF GREENHOUSE TOMATO CROPS IN AUSTRALIA

Why Import Bumblebees?

  • Bumblebees are very cost-effective pollinators - Currently, pollination is achieved through mechanical hand-held vibrators touching each plant 3 times a week. Bumblebees will do this job far more cheaply and efficiently.
  • Bumblebees are very efficient pollinators - They can deliver up to a 28% increase in production in ideal conditions, at a cost of only 1% of production.
  • Much improved fruit set - This is always important, even more so given the move towards truss production. The result is increased fruit size (5%), improved quality and extended shelf life.
  • Bumblebee technology is available to almost every country on the planet (except Australia) - Current pressure from NZ imports, with recent approval for importation of Dutch produce, and with Chinese imports on the horizon, means that if we hope to match production standards with our international competitors, all of which use bumblebees, then access to this technology is mandatory.
  • Consumers can be assured of pesticide-free produce due to low tolerance of bumblebees to pesticides. IPM strategies are already strongly supported in the protected cropping industry and bumblebees would ensure a 100% compliance rate. Bumblebee images on produce tags are used overseas to signify clean/green produce.
  • Bumblebees work long hours and have a high flower visitation rate (around 450 flowers/hr). They buzz pollinate, can tolerate the physical conditions existing within a commercial greenhouse, are housed in trouble-free hives suitable for delivery to growers, breed in sufficient numbers to provide the correct ratio of bees to open flowers (240,000 flowers/ha/week), and would be available 52 weeks per year.

The Facts:

  • Release of bumblebees into the Australian mainland environment is NOT BEING PROPOSED. Bumblebees would be confined to greenhouses within hives specially fitted with a queen excluder device that would allow only non-breeding worker bees into the crop. This is existing technology currently used in the USA and Canada to prevent the eastern species, Bombus impatiens, from establishing in the west.
  • In the unlikely event of escape or accident, any chance of establishment is predicted, on the basis of existing knowledge and climate restrictions, to be very limited and transient. Bumblebees prefer exotic (introduced) plant species (90%), compared to native species (only 10%); therefore, there is little likelihood of any competition for floral resources.
  • Bumblebees are not regarded as pests anywhere in the world. The spurious claims that bumblebees are another cane toad, fox, etc., are clearly false when we know bumblebees are used safely in 30 countries in over 25 different crops. There are many positive examples of species importation into Australia such as the leafcutter bee, European honeybee, sheep, cattle, brown trout, dung beetle, etc.
  • It is proposed to import only certified pathogen and parasite-free bumblebee stock from reputable producers. Any parasite or pathogen that has been associated with Bombus terrestris is unique to bumblebees and poses NO risk to Australian honey bees or native bees. Therefore, NO deleterious health effects on Australian honey bees or Australian native bees are likely.
  • Previous releases of B. terrestris in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s on the Australian mainland failed to colonise. An AHGA-funded Climex study indicates any likely distribution to be in the cooler, wetter areas and limited to Victoria, just over the NSW border, and the south-west corner of WA. First reported sighting in Tasmania, which has a much more suitable climate, appears to be around 1992. Despite the gloom and doom scenario painted by a few individuals, no adverse effects have been shown there.
  • Bumblebees are not a threat to endangered Australian birds - this is pure speculation. The threat to survival of the Swift Parrot has everything to do with land clearing, wood chipping and habitat destruction. Studies show a low bumblebee visitation rate (2%) to favoured blue gum flowers compared to 56% for honeybees and 25% for birds.
  • Native bee research is encouraged, however we must be practical. Will this ever be accomplished, and if so, in what time frame (5, 10, 20 years)? Can they ever hope to meet the requirements of a rapidly developing and expanding high technology industry? Can they be reared cost-effectively, 52 weeks a year? How much researchmoney will be needed, with the possible result of no suitable alternatives at the end of it all?
  • Bumblebees have been present in New Zealand for over 100 years, and are popular with farmers and public alike. There are no definitive examples over this time of any negative effect on the native flora and fauna. Reports of a negative impact in Israel and Japan are based on poor and limited research and have no basis in fact.
  • NSW and Victoria have declared B. terrestris as a “Key Threatening Process” due to intense lobbying from the conservation lobby; however, the Federal Government declined due to “insufficient evidence to support claim”. Good science must be allowed to prevail.
  • The AHGA has been investigating this technology for over 8 years. A $275,000 Environmental Impact Study (EIS) funded by Horticulture Australia Ltd following a national workshop in Hobart in 1999, and a CSIRO Climex study (funded by the AHGA) on the impact of B. terrestris on Tasmania’s flora and fauna, has failed to find any compelling evidence against introduction to the mainland.

The AHGA has engaged one of the world’s leading bumblebee experts. A Critical Study on the Introduction onto Mainland Australia of the Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) for the Commercial Pollination of Protected Tomato and Other Crops has been authored by Dr Don Griffiths from the United Kingdom. Dr Griffiths is a one time Director of Research at the Ministry of Agriculture Central Science Laboratory, UK, for 10 years. He is a member of the Board of Directors to the International Bee Research Association, Cardiff UK. He was responsible for the trials and introduction of commercial pollination management systems and their initial introduction into Holland, UK, France, Spain, Japan and Italian commercial glasshouses. He is an acknowledged expert in the biology, epidemiology of mite symbionts, parasites, predators and of pathogenic diseases of bees. Dr Don Griffith’s definitive study of all the key questions posed by both sides of the argument concludes with the following statement:

“If one considers all the facts given, then the case is clearly made to permit the commercial introduction of Bombus terrestris onto mainland Australia.”

REMEMBER
This application will only succeed with strong support. Send your letter or email of support to:

Send a Pre-formatted email to the
Director of Wildlife Trade Assessments at wsm@deh.gov.au

Director
Wildlife Trade Assessments
Department of the Environment and Heritage
GPO Box 787
Canberra ACT 2601
Email: wsm@deh.gov.au