Instead of a lot of rain like last year, there was a lot of sun this year. This pleased not only vacationers, but also the beekeepers. If you divide the honey harvest into 500 gram jars, almost every citizen could get one. The calculation example shows: The bees were busy.
Mayen/Neubrandenburg (dpa/mv) – The sunny year so far and the diligence of the bees have given the beekeepers in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania a rich honey harvest. As the chairman of the state beekeepers’ association, Carsten Fischer, announced, the beekeepers threw an average of 34 kilograms of honey per hive, almost as much as in 2021. “We can be quite satisfied with that,” said Fischer.
According to a nationwide survey, the yields were particularly high in the districts of Northwest Mecklenburg, Western Pomerania-Rügen and Mecklenburg Lake District, with more than 40 kilograms per bee colony in some cases. According to Fischer, about 200 of the 1,800 beekeepers organized in the state association reported their results for the survey. According to him, the total number of beekeepers in the country is estimated at around 3,000, who keep almost 30,000 bee colonies.
With the determined yield, the beekeepers in the north-east are below the national average, which the specialist center for bees and beekeeping in Mayen in Rhineland-Palatinate stated at 37.2 kilograms of honey per bee colony. This result is 8.9 kilos more than last year, which was inhospitable to bees. The center referred to two surveys on early and summer harvest with reports from 15,700 beekeepers nationwide.
“It was a good harvest, the beekeepers can be satisfied,” said center director Christoph Otten. However, last year’s harvest was also very low. Overall, this year’s amount is 2.7 kilos above the long-term average in Germany.
Bee expert Otten said the summer’s drought had little impact on the harvest. “By the time the drought began to take its toll in July, the bees had already harvested most of the nectar and stocked up, as they do every year.” There were still weather-related consequences: rain in June in parts of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and the Palatinate meant that the bees there collected less than in other parts of the state.
According to Fischer, the cold days in spring had a negative impact on beekeepers in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. “The rapeseed was already blooming when the bees weren’t really fit yet.” Despite the recent decline in acreage, rapeseed is by far the most important crop for honey production in the north-east.
According to the summer survey, the prices for German honey have risen by around six percent compared to the previous year. Industry expert Otten justifies this with increased costs for food or glasses. Since prices have risen very little for a long time, the current increase was overdue. A 500 gram jar of blossom honey now costs an average of 6.11 euros nationwide. According to Fischer, beekeepers in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania often sell their honey more cheaply, on average for 5.60 euros per jar.
In Germany there are more than 150,000 beekeepers who keep around one million bee colonies. In the vast majority of cases, these are recreational beekeepers. It is estimated that a quarter of the honey consumed domestically comes from Germany, the rest from countries such as Ukraine, Mexico or Argentina.
