Bee Friendly Farming in Australia Webinar

Bee Friendly Farming (BFF) is a certification program that works with land managers to help protect, preserve and promote pollinator health. BFF provides guidelines for farmers and gardeners to promote pollinator health on their lands.

Bee Friendly Farming ® CERTIFIED Australia was launched in May 2021. Sixteen months later more than 35,000 ha are now BFF Certified across six states of Australia.

"Industry representation is very broad' says Lea Hannah, Farm Technical Liaison Officer for Australia's Bee Friendly Farming Program. "It covers almonds, apples, avocado, vineyards, macadamias, nursery production and grazing enterprises including beef, sheep and dairy and is growing rapidly".

This webinar will showcase three different Bee Friendly Farming CERTIFIED farms , explain what makes each property 'bee friendly' and why each member chose to become BFF CERTIFIED.

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Presenters:

Lea Hannah - Technical Support Officer, Bee Friendly Farming Australia

Lea Hannah is a pollination biologist fascinated by all aspects of plant-pollinator interactions and improving biodiversity within both natural and agricultural landscapes. Lea is a PhD candidate at Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at Western Sydney University.

Mick van Lingen - Horseshoe Valley Farm - NSW

Mick van Lingen and his family farm on an 80 acre property in Dooralong on the Central Coast NSW hinterlands. Horseshoe Valley Farm is a regeneratively managed sheep and bee farm, operating a Babydoll Southdown sheep stud, and producing chemical-free grass-fed lamb and dried meats. Mick is also a commercial beekeeper, managing several apiaries around the Central Coast, and his single-source, raw honey is extracted and bottled on-farm.

James - Overstory (WA) and Small Wonder (TAS)

James holds an M.B.A Environmental Management, M.Env.M Sustainability & BMgmt Commercial Law.Overstory has set about shifting away from a traditional industrial farming mindset, of dominance over the land, to a more nurturing and regenerative attitude, where a sense of balance can be restored.  By treating our properties as a living system, which interacts with the environment, we strive to build healthy landscapes that nourish our vines and the wider farm environments.  Overstory has two sites, Wayfinder Margaret River, and Small Wonder Tasmania.  The business joined BFF as the program aligns with our ethos and provides us with access to a network of resources and like-minded individuals.  My role at Overstory is Farm & Produce Manager.

Chris Cannizzaro – Macadamia Farm Management - QLD

Chris Cannizzaro is an agricultural ecologist and entomologist, specialising in pollination ecology and plant insect interactions. His PhD studied the nutritional chemistry and diversity of tropical rainforest flora in pollen and honey collected by honeybees to understand honeybee diets in the tropics and how natural assists can be used sustainably and productively by subsistence farmers in Papua New Guinea. He has also studied the pollination of macadamia and avocado by stingless bees and currently holds the position of Horticulturalist at Macadamia Farm Management where he looks after ~3000 Ha of macadamia trees, with a focus on integrated pest management, pollination, and innovative research and development to help advance the macadamia industry toward more sustainable, productive practices.