Survey: Sunny weather gives beekeepers a good honey harvest

Germany’s beekeepers harvested significantly more honey this spring than in previous years. In the so-called early flow, each bee colony produced an average of 21.2 kilos of honey and thus 5.8 kilos more than in the rainy previous year, said the specialist center bees and beekeeping on dpa request. In 2020, the value was 3.8 kilos lower than this spring.

The reason for the high harvest value is the good weather. “It was sunny and dry, but at the same time the soil still had a basic moisture content,” said the head of the specialist center, Christoph Otten. “As a result, the plants grew well and the bees were able to collect a lot of nectar.” The harvest – called “Tracht” – is divided into early and summer costumes. The latter is about to be completed, figures on this are not yet available.

Around 170,000 beekeepers in Germany

8,412 beekeepers took part in the harvest survey conducted by the specialist center in cooperation with the German Beekeepers’ Association. The stated harvest value refers to the beekeepers who collected the honey. Some beekeepers left the honey in the hive for the bees to use for themselves. Germany has around one million bee colonies, which are kept by around 170,000 beekeepers. The majority are hobby beekeepers.

Bee expert Otten emphasizes that the comparison to the previous year is difficult because 2021 was very rainy and the harvest was very bad as a result. “The longer it rains, the less the bees fly.” If you look back a few years, the current early forage value is “good and above average, but it wasn’t a record harvest”. The bee expert is also satisfied with the quality so far this year.

With regard to the ongoing summer costume, the expert says that the drought could have a negative impact in some regions. The nectar production of the plants is inhibited, which leads to less yield. “Due to the low rainfall, we expect a rather moderate summer costume in parts of Germany.”