Meet your trainers - South Australia

Having spent the last 10 years building my Meningie-based beekeeping business from scratch up to a peak of 450+ hives with bulk honey production and almond pollination the main two focuses, I understand first-hand the impacts that these new varroa management practices will have on our businesses, and am keen to support our beekeeping community leverage the knowledge that's been learned from other locations.

Aside from running my beekeeping business, I've had the opportunity to learn a lot about biosecurity at PIRSA helping out part time with the varroa surveillance program as well as some of the BBO duties. The opportunity to work for large commercial beekeepers during my beekeeping career has also been invaluable for my knowledge base, as well as generational knowledge from my grandfather, father, and uncle who was an apiaries inspector. So many beekeepers have that generational knowledge being passed down, and we now have the opportunity to bring our industry together as a family to make sure every single one of us has the tools, confidence, and preparation in place to tackle varroa when it does arrive.

As a second-generation beekeeper, I’ve worked closely with my father for the past 30 years. I proactively joined BSSA several years ago to take my knowledge and bee career forward. Now, having retired from government service, I’m able to devote all my time to managing my own hives, and those of friends. The bee society continues to give me the opportunity to network with friends new and old, and swap learnings with recreational and commercial beekeepers across the state.

I’ve recently completed beekeeping and trainer qualifications, and, along with my own hands-on experience, I’m well positioned to deliver workshops as part of the National Varroa Management Program team. I look forward to sharing key insights with fellow beekeepers to ensure we are all equipped us for the challenges of identifying and managing varroa going forward.

As a fourth-generation beekeeper, my childhood memories are of playing among the hives and harvesting honey laid a strong foundation for my later professional venture into beekeeping. Getting hands-on practical experience throughout my younger years, enabled me to hone skills and build a deep understanding of these crucial pollinators.

My deep-seated passion for the environment, our natural resources, and sustainability, comes from a successful career in a variety of sectors including the environmental and education sectors. Through that work I became passionate about the crucial link between honeybee welfare, ecosystem health, and our natural resources. This led to establishing our current family-run apiary business, managing beehives across urban, rural and bushland sites, and advocating their vital role in society.

Through urban beehive projects, educational outreach, ethical bee rescue efforts, and habitat preservation, I strive to connect humans more closely with honeybees. Despite challenges like varroa mites impacting bee populations, I remain optimistic about our ability to innovate and responsibly steward our natural resources.

As someone who is often described as "passionate", you might think it ironic that I worked for Local Government for 21 years! Those years involved a lot of community development and community education that built upon my teaching qualifications, and equipped me to connect with groups of people around topics of concern and advocate with other levels of government to meet the needs of local communities.

These days my local community is the beekeeping sector, whose views I represent both as vice president of my local beekeeping association as well as a member of the South Australian Varroa Industry Advisory Committee (SAVIAC). I still provide community education, but now it’s solely bee-focussed. When I am not out there spruiking the importance of honeybees to society, you can find me admiring my bees, studying a Cert III in Beekeeping, handcrafting a range of products from the hive for my small business, or ensuring my garden is primed for visits from our essential pollinators. I’m passionate about ensuring that the beekeeping industry is healthy, sustainable, and well prepared for the challenges that varroa brings.

As a trainer/assessor in Certificate III Beekeeping at Bee Prepared Training and Development, I've worked for years with commercial, micro, and recreational keepers. I've long been a promotor of bee health and supporter of sustainability for everyone.

My background of studying Apicultural Science and working with the Department of Entomology and at the Waite Agricultural Research Institute in Adelaide, has given me unique knowledge in the areas of honeybee health, nutrition, genetics, integrated pest management, and disease management, which in turn enables me to offer a unique set of evidence-backed skills and insights to our understanding and management of varroa.

I’ve long had a passion for the Australian honeybee industry and know that together we can prepare for and manage the challenges the varroa mite is bringing to this sector and look forward to working with beekeepers across the state through the delivery of the National Varroa Mite Management training workshops.

In my work as a sheep farmer, I’ve had the daunting experience of having PIRSA place me under quarantine for footrot. Nevertheless, I know that experience is now helping my navigation of learning about varroa management, and I look forward to sharing my learnings with others.

I know that the idea of managing and using chemicals, and learning about integrated pest management practices is overwhelming for some beekeepers. However, my knowledge from working as a licensed pest controller means that I can help break down these concepts into practical steps, and can answer many of the questions you might have.

Being worried about Varroa entering Australia, and concerned about our lack of local knowledge and my own inexperience with this challenge, I commenced my studies through the University of Florida several years ago.

I really enjoy learning about bees in an evidence-based, scientifically supported program, and it’s been so helpful to put those insights into practice – not only within my own operation, but also by sharing my learnings with the beekeepers I mentor. Best of all, we are always learning from each other – even the newest entrants to our sector have ideas and experiences to offer. A bit like the hive really, where the youngest of bees contribute to the success of the colony as a whole, while the oldest bees do their part to the end.