Public consultation on the topic is closed.
How you had your say
We sought feedback from participating ACT and NSW backyard beekeepers on our recent Varroa mite detection technology pilot.
Between 1 April and 30 July 2024, we led two pilots across ACT and NSW under the Catalysing Australia’s Biosecurity Initiative to trial a Varroa mite detection technology – BeeRight. This was in collaboration with ACT Government, Queensland Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Victoria, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and University of Canberra (UC).
The aim of the pilot was to determine if BeeRight technology had the potential to detect Varroa mite in Australia. This involved real-time data collection from ACT and NSW beekeepers and commercial hives across NSW. To validate BeeRight technology eDNA samples were collected from each hive and sent to UC for testing.
Who engaged
Selected volunteer backyard beekeepers participated in the review and the pilot.
Survey
There were 40 volunteers in total, 24 participants responded to our survey.
What you said
Overall pilot experience
Overall, the survey results indicate a high level of satisfaction with recent interactions between pilot participants and the department. Most participants rated the overall experience as ‘Very good’, reflecting positive engagement and effective service delivery. Based on this pilot, all participants expressed that they would participate in a similar pilot in the future.
Information provided to participants
Almost 100% of participants felt that enough information was provided to them about the pilot, BeeRight technology and participants requirements prior to commencement of the pilot.
Level of difficulty setting up the equipment and taking eDNA tests
BeeRight device - More than 91% of the participants indicated it was easy or very easy
Gateway device - More than 66% of participants indicated it was easy or very easy
eDNA Test - More than 87% of participants indicated it was easy or very easy
Setting up BeeRight, gateway and accessing the user portal
Approximately 75% of participants took less than 15 minutes to install the BeeRight device alone. However, the time the participants took to install the three components was varied, with approximately 37% of participants being able to complete the process in under 15 minutes, and another 25% taking over 1 hour to undertake the process. The rest of participants took between 15 to 45 minutes.
BeeRight device impact on the hive and indication of activity
Approximately 67% of participants thought that installation of the BeeRight device did not impact the hive negatively and approximately 33% were unsure.
More than 58% of participants were unsure about BeeRight capturing the true state of their hive based on their observations, with the main issues being difficulty accessing the database portal and gateway fail (charging issue, intermittent transmission, inaccurate alert to queen bee presence/absence).
What happens next
Thank you for your valuable participation. All data is currently being collated and analysed in preparation for a final report on findings. Once completed, this information will be shared with participants. We expect to have the results by the end of September 2024.
Your feedback will be provided to Vimana Tech to consider in their future design of BeeRight technology and will also be used to inform our evaluation of the pilot study.