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Honeybee Decline Threatens English Apple Orchards

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"An apple a day keeps the doctor away" could soon be a saying of the past as English apples are predicted to become the next victim of the honeybee crisis, threatening over £165m of agricultural production in the UK.

In July 2008 Rowse Honey announced English Beekeepers’ Honey would run out in the supermarkets by Christmas, and with apple trees relying 90% on the honeybee for pollination, a serious threat is imminent.

"We need beehives in orchards because we rely on honeybees to pollinate apple blossom in Spring," says Martin Ridler, Orchard Controller for Gaymers Cider. "You can hope for insects and the wind to help, but honeybees guarantee pollination," he continues.
In Britain the average person consumes 90 apples per year as part of their essential 5-a-day quota. The decline in honeybee numbers has already had an impact on apple production in Northern Ireland, whose multi-million pound apple industry is under threat due to Colony Collapse Disorder. As a result, Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew pledged earlier last month to draw up a Bee Health Strategy to rescue the region’s vanishing populations.

Adrian Barlow, Chief Executive of English Apples & Pears comments: "We are currently in the midst of English apple season. The threat to the honeybee is a huge concern as without bees to pollinate orchards, there would be a real risk of apple shortages in the future."

The apple joins many other crops such as pears, raspberries, broccoli and runner beans currently under threat due to their reliance on the honeybee for pollination. One third of all fruit and vegetables we consume in the UK are pollinated by the honeybee.

Stuart Bailey, Chairman of Rowse Honey comments: "In the future, English varieties of apples we have come to know and love may no longer be available and consumers will struggle to enjoy them as part of a healthy diet. Rowse Honey has recently committed £100,000 into bee health research over three years with the support of the BBKA, BFA and NFU to help save the apple and many more of our beloved fruit and veg. We urge the UK public to provide their support by signing the BBKA’s petition online or becoming a beekeeper, keeping this wonderful tradition alive."