The honey harvest cut by more than half in 2021 due to the weather

A

year

: the 2021 honey harvest will be between 7,000 and 9,000 tonnes only, or less than half of that of 2020, due to the very unfavorable weather conditions in spring and summer, lamented Monday. National Union of French beekeeping, Unaf.

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Read alsoBeekeepers are worried about a "dark year" for French honey

"This is the worst year for French beekeeping,"

considers this organization, which recalls that the previous year had been a good year (18,000 to 20,000 tonnes).

In 1995, France produced around 32,000 tonnes of honey.

In 2019, the harvest was less than 10,000 tonnes.

"The climatic upheaval, felt by beekeepers for a good fifteen years is there"

, estimates Unaf.

In many areas, long periods of frost, cold and rain followed one another throughout the spring and much of the summer.

, notes Unaf.

Poor or poor harvests

If the rapeseed honey harvests were poor in most regions, the acacia honey harvests, wiped out by late frosts and rains, were

, according to the organization.

In the South, harvests of spring honey such as rosemary, thyme, white heather or garrigue, were nil or mediocre.

In the South-East, the lavender honey harvest has done well. The chestnut honey harvests are poor everywhere.

In the mountains, the honeydews turned out to be generally bad because they were often too short.

In the East, those of forest or fir, are almost nil.

The sunflower harvest varies depending on the basin but is often disappointing.

Low predation of the hornet

Only small point of consolation for beekeepers: the predation of the hornet was very low in 2021. Like the bees, it suffered from bad weather conditions ...

In July, Unaf alerted the state services to implement the agricultural disaster regime to help beekeepers pass this course.

Several departments have already initiated the procedure.

,

Christian Pons, president of Unaf, told AFP.