Why We Are Doing This?

We are Beekeepers with a vision of bringing bees back to the city and the suburbs of Melbourne.  The aim is to be part of the greater world wide effort to help save the honey bee from the various threats of disease and human habitation.

With the collapse of honey bees in 2007 (Colony Collapse Disorder) around the world, the Asian Honey Bee threat and the Varroa Mite on our doorstep, a serious risk is taking place on our natural food supply.  The honey bee plays a very important role in the sustainability of the food supply chain as they are the key to the pollination of the agricultural and horticultural crops which ultimately produces a very large proportion of the food that we all eat.

In Australia, around 65 per cent of agricultural production depends on pollination by European honey bees.  There are 35 industries which are dependent on honey bee pollination for most of their production.  Crops vary in how much they rely on or respond to pollination by bees. Some industries, such as almonds, apples, pears and cherries, depend almost totally on bees for fruit and nut production.

Due to the large number of wild European honey bees in Australia, the vital role of pollination is not widely recognised or valued and only a small proportion of agricultural producers manage the process through paid pollination.  The potentially devastating impact of exotic pests such as the Varroa mite, which is yet to reach Australia, poses a significant threat to the honey bees and our pollination services.

Our services have already help ‘re-home’ 40 swarms of honey bee colonies either caught by ourselves including feral colonies saved from extermination during Spring and Summer.  If it wasn’t for this, these colonies of honey bees would not have survived given the cold conditions they face during the Winter months.

Melbourne City Rooftop Honey joins the cities of Paris, London, Toronto, San Francisco and New York City where urban beekeeping is thriving.  The community benefits by some true ‘local’ produce – a great tasting honey which is unique to each site, with less actual food miles plus help green our City of Melbourne.