For the first time in several years, the first assessment of the beekeeping season in France is positive. The controversy surrounding several pesticides believed to be behind declining bee populations has reached fever pitch in the country, hopefully this good news may help to assuage the situation.

Thanks to favourable springtime weather, the yields of honey from oilseed rape, lavender, acacia and sunflowers are more than satisfactory, the French agricultural union FNSEA announced this week.

The FNSEA revealed in a statement that, “as the sunflower blooming season is coming to an end, beekeepers and growers have gathered for this year’s initial inventory and the 2011 balance for honey is positive.”

Not only have honey yields risen this year, despite the high levels of mortality among European and North American bees, but in France, where the controversy over bee deaths has been fiercest, relations between farmers and beekeepers appear to be improving, according to the FNSEA statement.

The positive balance reported throughout France, was due to a hot and sunny spring which led to plants blooming early, “producing good yields from oilseed rape, acacia, lavender and sunflower,” according to the union.

Julien Delaunay, a beekeeper with 1,500 hives in Vendée, on the West coast, spoke of the “beekeepers dream year,” where, “a good end to the hibernation period and an intensely productive season with little evidence of accidents or mortality” had led to the increase in honey yields. 

Concerns persist

The final inventory for the year will be taken in October, when the actual honey yield will be revealed. For the first time in several years, a rise in production can be expected; somewhere in the region of one thousand to three thousand tonnes, according to FNSEA estimates.

The union addressed thesingle issue which has become the crux of the debate between the beekeeping and farming worlds in France: the authorisation and use of Cruiser OSR on rapeseed crops. The decision to authorise the pesticide was taken by the French agriculture ministry on 3rd June, and raised a great deal of controversy.

The French National Apiculture Union (UNAF), supported by the organisation France Nature Environnement (FNE), appealed against the authorisation before the State Council. However, the groups’ appeal was rejected last Friday. FNE has announced plans to lodge another appeal, this time with the Administrative Council.