Honey Production 2021 in Northern Italy

Unlike previous years, this past winter was a real winter. There were low temperatures and there was precipitation in the form of both rain and snow. This, contrary to what one might believe, is very important for bees. Cold weather, in fact, brings them into a condition called brood block. This means that the queen no longer lays eggs and the bees, as they do not have to look after the new hatchlings, consume less honey. Less consumption obviously leads to a longer shelf life, allowing for a good spring recovery. Then, unfortunately, there was an increasing drought, which compromised the production of spring honeys such as dandelion and cherry. However, the preconditions for a good acacia bloom persisted.

However, in April, between the 7th and 8th, an abnormal frost occurred, as also witnessed by the National Honey Observatory. This frost affected both the North and Centre, reaching peaks of -9°C in many areas. The damage to plants, especially acacia trees and especially in lowland areas, was extremely worrying. The buds of many plants did not resist, others were aborted shortly afterwards. Plants without buds do not produce flowers and without flowers there can be no nectar that bees collect to produce honey. Only a few areas seemed to have been spared. It was there that beekeepers moved their bees, both to prevent them from starving and to allow them a minimum of honey production.

Strongly unfavourable weather, with minimes of 6°C and highs of 20°C combined with low humidity, however, led to the almost complete annihilation of acacia honey production. This happened even in those areas where the acacia had flowered, late and unevenly. The presence of flowers does not guarantee nectar production. For that there must be adequate temperatures, which were lacking this year. Also thanks to the detection of the scales, it was seen that, in the luckiest cases, a beehive produced between 500g and 1kg compared to 20kg in previous years. The losses were incredible. The persistent wind also did not help at all.

This has led to abundant feeding of families, who would otherwise have starved to death. Antonio tells us that thanks to the scales, he did not lose his hives, something that happened to several other beekeepers, some of them very experienced. Lack of grazing, climate change, unexpected frost and generally unfavourable weather have therefore put bees and the entire beekeeping sector to the test. In order to prevent hives from dying of starvation, beekeepers have been forced to intervene with extraordinary feed. All this has resulted in unsustainable costs for beekeepers, outlining 2021 as a dramatic year for honey production. In order to support beekeepers and their bees, you can adopt a hive monitored with 3Bee technology. In addition to keeping an eye on your bees every day, you will be able to enjoy the precious honey they produce, even in this difficult season.