After learning how our native plants reproduced before honeybees arrived in 1839, I began wondering what would happen if they disappeared.
Our native forests wouldn't suddenly die, and we wouldn't run out of food. But some of the farming systems we've developed over nearly 190 years would face serious difficulties.
Honey production would stop, and crops would suffer. Without honeybees, New Zealand's commercial production of mānuka, clover and other honeys would effectively cease. Beekeeping businesses, including those built by generations of my own Cloake family in South Canterbury, would be affected.
The consequences would extend well beyond honey. Honeybees pollinate many of our apples, cherries, kiwifruit and vegetable seed crops. They are particularly important for producing white-clover seed, used to establish the pastures that feed sheep and cattle.
While researching this, I found a fascinating local example in the New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, January 1959. The Department of Agriculture recorded 470 beehives across 30 apiaries between the Pareora and Ōtaio rivers, an important white-clover seed-growing district. Researchers believed there were too few hives to achieve maximum seed production.
Today, the Foundation for Arable Research recommends at least two strong honeybee hives per hectare for effective white-clover seed pollination. Without honeybees, seed growers would need other pollinating insects or alternative methods, potentially reducing yields and increasing costs. Not every crop would suffer. Wheat, barley and oats are mainly wind- or self-pollinated. Established clover plants could continue growing and spreading, but producing new seed would be more difficult.
Would our native plants survive?
Yes, many would. Aotearoa's native plants were reproducing long before honeybees arrived. Native bees, flies, moths, beetles and birds would continue pollinating flowers. Wind-pollinated trees such as tōtara and native beech would reproduce, while ferns would continue producing spores. Some plants might produce fewer seeds where introduced honeybees now contribute to their pollination. Others could benefit from less competition for nectar and pollen. According to the Department of Conservation, honeybees can compete with indigenous animals for floral resources and help pollinate invasive weeds. The effects vary between species and habitats. If all bees disappeared, including native bees and bumblebees, the consequences would be greater. Other insects and birds could still pollinate many plants, but they couldn't necessarily replace every bee's work.
Are honeybees at risk of disappearing?
Honeybee extinction is not an immediate prediction, but keeping colonies healthy requires constant work. The Ministry for Primary Industries' 2025 Colony Loss Survey estimated that 12.8% of managed honeybee colonies were lost over winter, with the parasitic varroa mite the leading identified cause. These are colony losses, not evidence that the species is approaching extinction. Beekeepers can establish replacement colonies, but losses increase their workload and costs. Meanwhile, scientists are investigating how native bees, flies and other insects can contribute to commercial crop pollination, supported by suitable habitats and flowering plants.
What have we learned?
I started this history hunt wanting to understand my family's beekeeping past. I've discovered how native plants reproduced before honeybees arrived, why people introduced new pollinators and how dependent some of our agricultural industries have become on them. We've developed farming systems that rely heavily on managed honeybees. Yet our native plants remind us that pollination involves many species, each with different roles.
Honeybees are important to our economy, but they are not the only pollinators that matter.
Protecting them means managing pests and diseases and ensuring they have suitable food sources. Protecting native pollinators also means caring for indigenous vegetation, nesting places and the relationships that developed here long before European settlement. Next time you see an insect or bird visiting a flower, look a little closer. It might be helping produce our food, regenerate native forest or spread the next generation of plants.
Understanding those connections gives us another reason to look after the places we share.
Roselyn Fauth (née Cloake) | WuHoo Timaru