Capilano Honey Ltd, Richlands, QLD

Honey bees are social insects, charged with the duty of providing their hive with an abundance of honey. A colony of honey bees can be viewed as an exceptionally complex cluster, which functions virtually as a single organism to meet the needs of the hive. Their value is not confined to the hive however; in fact the activity of honey bees is worth more than 1.2 billion dollars to Australia's horticulture industry each year! This is due to the vital role honey bees play in the process of cross-pollination - where bees transfer pollen from male flowers to female flowers as they travel from one to the other to find nectar, encouraging the blossoming of fruits and vegetables to the delight of producers and market growers. In essence, without the bee blossoms may not bear fruit and without floral sources there would be no honey - it is a perfect partnership, and one which encourages fruit producers and market growers to invite beekeepers to establish hives on their properties all across the country.