Summarise their points of view into 10 clear dot-points. Local Copy here

Compare with 3 other students in the class. Reduce the points of view down to 15 dot-points from the group of four students.

2. Did you think they were listened to by the Inquiry? Read some news stories about other State Beekeepers:

The Conversation 24 February 2020	The Conversation 25 February 2016
5 February 2020	2 November 2023
22 February 2016	21 February 2016

3. Re-look at these articles particularly with the mathematics behind fires and beekeeping.

Write up the facts and figures. What do these figures suggest to you regarding the economy of fires and beekeeping?

4. You are to create a presentation about the key points, that your group of four came up with, and, the stories from the other states, in a way that you know people will listen to what you have to say. Prezi? Short video?

5. How will you know your message will be listen to?

Let's do the maths for the Almond Industry and the Bee Brokers!

Middle  Secondary

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Numeracy

Australian Curriculum General Capability: Critical and creative thinking

Cooperative Learning Activity

1. In pairs, read the following snippets of information. 

"In Australia, the almond industry is one of the biggest renters of honeybee hives for pollination. Almonds bloom for a few weeks at the end of August and rely almost completely on insect pollination to produce harvestable almond fruits."

"In 2017–18, almond production was valued at $441 million (LVP), with exports valued at $440 million."

"The domestic market for almonds continues to grow strongly at around 10 per cent per year due to an increasing move to plant-based diets and the health benefits of nuts. The industry has focused on export market development, with three tonnes of almonds being shipped overseas for every tonne consumed in Australia."

"The industry has been expanding rapidly since 2016 with an additional 20,000 hectares being planted, bringing the total industry orchard area to 50,000 hectares. The orchards are concentrated along the Murray Valley in Victoria (53%), SA (21%), and NSW (24%), with an orchard in WA (2%)."

"The many plantations across northwestern Victoria rent more than 150,000 hives each year, costing millions of dollars in rental fees. Costs per hive vary depending on the crop, covering costs to the beekeeper such as how far they have to travel, the time of year (early season pollination can be more stressful for honey bees and require more feeding costs for beekeepers to maintain hive health), and the risks (e.g. chemicals) bees might face in the crop. For almond pollination, one hive can cost around $70-100 to rent."

Trucks carrying millions of bees – and water supplies and forklifts – move at night after all the foragers have returned to the hive, so you might not actually see them being moved.
(Source: Farm Biosecurity)

"Research also indicates higher fruit set rates are achieved when hives are placed in smaller placements and spread evenly across the orchard, rather than larger placements placed less often. Honey bees will mainly forage on a single tree and if they leave this they are most likely to move to the next tree in the same row."

"It is recommended that between 6 and 7 hives per hectare are used to achieve adequate pollination."

"This season, Mr Monson, a Bee Broker contracted 200 beekeepers to deliver 110,000 hives."

(Source: ABC News 21 January 2019)

"Beekeeper Rex Carruthers has been trucking bees to Victoria for 15 years.

In just 12 days, he made three return trips south to deliver 21 million bees in almost 1,500 hives.

"It's been a pretty stressful year this year because of the drought, we've done nothing but work on bees for six months to try and get them in pretty good order," he said.

The bees have four weeks to pollinate hundreds of thousands of flowering almond trees before Mr Carruthers does another three round trips to truck them home.

On arrival, he drops his beehives at designated spots around the orchards.

"After freight and feeding, they can net $100 a hive," Mr Monson said.

"If you had a thousand hives, that's $100,000 and it sets you up for the year."

The Bee Broker usually gets 4-5% for each hive s/he organises - shared between the almond grower and the beekeeper.

"Almonds (Prunus dulcis) are a high value horticultural crop that rely almost exclusively on European honeybees (Apis. Mellifera) to produce nuts. The Australian almond industry is concentrated in the Riverland region of South Australia, the Sunraysia region of Victoria and the Riverina district of New South Wales. The rapid expansion of the industry has created speculation that there is a hive number shortage looming. Australia currently uses some 190,000 hives for almond pollination, which are sourced from all states on the eastern seaboard. Industry forecasts suggest that the demand for hives will increase to 300,000 by 2021 when industry plantings will reach its peak. Currently, there are 372,529 commercial hives registered in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. Whilst there are sufficient hives to service future almond pollination demand, there is only 50 per cent participation in pollination from beekeepers." (Pollination Services for the Almond Industry)

2. Re-order the information so you can see and analyse it.

3. Work out:

a. the number of hives needed for the hectares planted in Australia. State your reasoning.

b. how much income does an almond grower with 2 hectares of almond trees have after paying the Beekeeper and the Bee Broker?

c. how much income did Mr Monson make?

d. how much income did Beekeeper Rex Carruthers make?

4. Think about the costs for the Beekeeper, Rex Carruthers to undertake the six trips. What items could be listed under his "Cost" budget?

The Crop Pollination Association lists an extensive list of pricing factors. Re-consider your "Cost" budget using this information.

Optional extra: Read the following article about what Beekeepers have to do to be part of this pollination process. Almond pollination: hive management. Does this information affect your assessment of costs?

5. What sort of work would a Bee Broker have to do to convince both the Almond grower and the Beekeeper to use his services? List the jobs and provide a reason. How could the Bee Broker persuade the Beekeeper to contribute some of his/her hives to pollination instead of honey production?

6. After reading this SMH news item (15 May 2019), assess the cost to the Webster company. When will they recoup their investment?

7. Do you think the Bee Broker job is in jeopardy as a result of this acquisition by Websters? Why? Why not? Discuss!

Investigating the Maths Inside: Bees with backpacks
(developed by University of Technology Sydney, CSIRO, AAMT)

Bee Patrol  - Another activity involving bees,  beetles and mites coming into Australia Biosecurity Officer	Beeswax and Furniture Polish - A comparison Furniture Polisher
Act for Bees & Cool Australia Curriculum Resources Australian Curriculum aligned units for Years 5 & 6; Individual activities for Years 9 & 10;

Material sourced from:
ABC News
Beeaware