Great news for honey lovers!
According to the results of the Honey and Royal Jelly Production Observatory published by FranceAgriMer, the year 2020 has broken records.
With a production of + 47% compared to 2019, this is the largest increase recorded since the establishment of the observatory.
Improved performance
Unrelated to the health crisis, these performances are the direct consequence of an increase in the number of production hives, by + 12% in one year, as well as a level of harvest per hive much higher than in 2019.
If the average size of farms tends to decrease in the long term, 2020 will see an increase in the number of beekeepers of 14% over the year, with a significant increase in small farms with less than 50 beehives.
Today, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region brings together 22% of French beekeepers, followed by the Grand Est region which occupies second place.
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The spring weather in 2020 also played in favor of these very good figures for the sector.
Indeed, thanks to this "
exceptional year with a hot, dry and frost-free spring
" as evidenced by the young beekeeper Grégoire Philipon, the yield per hive thus rose to 23.2 kilos in 2020, or 30% more than in 2019. .
A more difficult year 2021
If 2020 was the year of all records, the 2021 vintage is already shaping up to be smaller. “
It’s going to hurt,
” says the producer of Miel de Chouy, who has been living in Aisne (Hauts-de-France) for four years. His farm of around 100 beehives, like many others, suffered from the frost that occurred last April. With temperatures down to -10 degrees for five days, the vegetation weakened and the frost got the better of what is most precious to bees: the flowers. "
They began to tap in their reserve for food
", abnormally emptying their stock of honey. “
I had to feed them sugar, I had never done that in four years,
” laments the beekeeper. This one doescould not produce "
a drop of acacia honey
".
With a usual target of 40 kilos of honey per hive, Grégoire Philipon fears dividing his annual production up to twice.
Read also: Frost: French agriculture in shock
If a new decree from the Ministry of Agriculture fell on Tuesday on the compensation conditions for farmers after frost episodes, it does not however concern beekeepers, who were nevertheless well affected by the damage last spring.