🟡 Bees, beef & bushfires
Including: The toll of living through disasters.
Ellie Chamberlain
October 01, 2025
⏱️ The 66th edition of our newsletter is a seven-minute read.
🙋♀️ Hey all, it’s Ellie – your Mid North Coaster reporter.
🎉 We now have more than 14,800+ subscribers! A warm welcome to new readers and a thank you to everyone for following along.
Hasn’t the spring weather been lovely!? I’m enjoying morning swims again and my passionfruit vine is thriving!
The downside to spring – I did get a foot-full of bindi taking this photo.
Last week’s newsletter featured Toorooka farmers David and Carolyn Duff, who are passionate about land management. They spoke to the Mid North Coaster recently about the importance of controlling fuel load as we enter bushfire danger season. I’ll share the interview below.
We also spoke about their first-hand experience of the Black Summer fires. Some of their story is in included in an article about the mental toll of living through disasters on the MNC, which I’ll share today.
A few weeks back I spoke to local beekeepers Ana and Sven, local beekeepers’, thoughts on the “terrible trifecta” of varroa mite, heavy rainfall and small hive beetle. This morning we’ll look into the ongoing impact of varroa, and chemical and non-chemical control methods. Ana and Sven are opting for heat treatment.
Let’s dive in…
🗓️ SOMETHING HAPPENING THIS WEEK
THURSDAY, OCT 2 | Hat Head Night Markets, 3pm - 7pm
The Hat Head Night Markets are back. This free event is open to everyone and includes food and markets stalls as well as live music. Find the markets on the green next to the bowling club.
🐝 Here’s how beekeepers and the DPI are trying to stay ahead of the MNC’s deadly varroa mite parasite
NSW has given up on trying to eradicate varroa mite – the greatest biological threat to Australia’s honey bee and pollination-dependent plant industries – and instead is focusing on long-term management.
It’s been more than two years since varroa mite spread to the Mid North Coast. Since then, some local beekeepers have left the industry, while others continue to be challenged by parasitic mites that attack European honey bees and can kill entire colonies.
It remains unknown how many beekeeping businesses have shut up shop since varroa mite entered Australia – a national survey is being conducted. In the meantime, as spring sets in, warm weather increases the chance of varroa mite production and re-infestation of hives.
🛑 Eradication attempts abandoned
When varroa mite was first detected in the country, in June 2022, the infestation was considered feasible to eradicate and affected hives were euthanised.
After 14-months of destroying mite infected hives with fuel-soaked rags, attempts to eradicate varroa mite were abandoned in September 2023.
The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) told the Mid North Coaster that by the time it shifted from eradication to management of varroa mite, the emergency response team in NSW had conducted surveillance on more than 30,000 hives.
Nationally, $101 million was spent during the eradication response.
📋 Managing the deadly mite
In March, the number of Bee Biosecurity Officers (BBO) were doubled to six full-time positions, to provide more support to beekeepers in managing varroa mite.
Over the past 16 months, the National Varroa Mite Management Program (NVMMP) has held 121 workshops nationally to provide information on how to manage varroa mite, including chemical control.
There are seven chemical products approved for controlling varroa in Australia. To kill the mite, some target the nervous system and others the respiratory system.
Still, local beekeepers are looking for other options. Some are turning to heat treatment as a non-chemical approach.
🐝 Bee and honey health
The NVMMP states all chemical control products for varroa management can have negative effects on honey bee health – the main reason Mid North Coaster beekeepers Ana Martin and Sven Stephan opt for heat techniques.
“From the beginning, we never put any chemicals in our hives,” Stephan told the Mid North Coaster. “We’d rather give up beekeeping”.
Martin and Sven were introduced to Varroa Controller – a machine that heats to a temperature that is safe for the colony, but lethal to the mites. They ended up bringing the machine from Austria to Australia to sell.
They believe the chemical-free approach is safer for bees and better for honey cleanliness, and that the varroa mite cannot become resistant to the treatment.
The DPI insists its approved chemicals are effective and safe when rotated correctly.
🚫 Risk of resistance
A DPI spokesperson said the NVMMP had not received any evidence that varroa mites in Australia were resistant to any of the products approved for use.
However, according to DPI, in the UK, Europe and the US, some treatments are now ineffective due to varroa becoming resistant following prolonged misuse. This can include repeated use of the same chemical control product and leaving products in the hive for shorter or longer than the specified treatment time.
The NVMMP recommends all beekeepers adopt an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach to managing the mite. IPM encourages the use of non-chemical controls first, known as cultural and mechanical controls, in order to minimise chemical use – and the risk of residue and varroa developing chemical resistance.
The DPI states when a Varroa threshold is met chemical control is required to ensure colony survival.
Cultural control includes breeding for varroa-resistance traits and brood interruption such as caging the queen bee, and mechanical controls include brood trapping using drones.
🍯 Clean honey concerns
As for the honey, according to DPI the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority performs detailed risk assessments before approving a chemical product for use in food production. Treatments that do not result in clean honey are not approved.
However, Stephan and Martin will continue to avoid chemical use to control varroa mite in their hives.
“The idea is that you can raise healthy colonies, control the mite, and not have any chemical in your honey and chemical load on the bees that is not good for them either,” Martin said.
In spring and summer, it is not uncommon for hives to be reinfested in areas of high mite loads within weeks following treatment.
The Honey Bee Colony Loss Survey is taking submissions until November 1, 2025. It is led by researchers and representatives from the Australian Honey Bee Industry. The results will provide insights into hive losses and varroa impacts across the country.
🔥“Everybody gets trauma from these events”: The mental toll of living through disasters on the Mid North Coast
David and Carolyn Duff are fourth generation farmers on the Mid North Coast – a region prone to floods, droughts and fires. They’ve experienced the destruction of disasters time and time again, and felt the emotional and financial toll after each event.
Now, facing predictions of increased bushfires and more intense storms, the Duff family has been contemplating the mental impact – and quality of government support – surrounding life on the MNC.
🔥Living through the Black Summer: The Duffs’ 2,500 acre Toorooka property, west of Kempsey, was devastated by the Black Summer fires of 2019/20.
In just two hours, David estimated the fires had cost them $1.2 million.
The flames took everything but the family home, although it was a close call. Under the house, David managed to control the fire as flames gathered beneath the master bedroom.
Alongside the devastating property loss, the Duffs lost 100 head of cattle. Their neighbour lost his life.
“There’s not a day goes by where we're not reminded of it,” David told the Mid North Coaster.
🧰 Impact of bushfires still ongoing: David and Carolyn believe their business is still struggling, and know of people in the area who lived through similar experiences and still get triggered by the smell of smoke five years on.
After Black Summer, the Duffs changed course and had soya bean crops. They lost some in the floods of 2021/22 floods.
Another fire came through in 2023. “It managed to burn 90 percent of this property,” David said.
“Trying to operate the business has been a bit of a challenge”.
The pair agree the government support process following a disaster makes the mental impact substantially worse by “extending the stress”, with the prolonged wait times, plenty of red tape and insufficient assistance at inappropriate times. “It’s not fit for purpose,” David said.
Carolyn believes the "mental anguish” comes from the frustration of dealing with the process. “People either give up, or walk away, it’s just too hard.”
🗣️“We deal with nature on a daily basis, whatever it throws at us,” said David.
“Whether it's fire or drought or flood or too much rain, not enough rain… but to have the pre-leading drought, which was stressful enough, for two years, in 2018 and 2019, and then to be hit [with the fires], it just really bowled me out.”
“And then it didn't rain for 10 or 11 weeks afterwards, so we were feeding 700 head of cattle here daily… and it was 45 degrees and there wasn't a leaf on a tree. You couldn't get in the shade. There was no water in the creek. The river was back to pools”.
David said access to government assistance for fire damage was particularly hard going.
“All these hurdles came up, and she couldn’t get it, and that just frustrated us to no end,” he said.
“You’re not only dealing with the result of what the event is – whether it's fire or flood– mentally, which is not your norm, and then you've got to deal with this other stress load.
“The firemen and everybody that comes to help, and even the LLS [Local Land Services], everybody gets trauma from these events because they have to deal with the people that have been affected”.
💧 Close friends “devastated” from May floods: Jennifer Schoelpple has lived near Charity Creek on the MidCoast since 2001. The area was hit hard by the record-breaking floods in May, and while Schoepple was not directly affected by the water – living on high ground – she said seeing her close friends and community impacted was "extremely difficult.”
🗣️“It feels like there’s no way out for a lot of people, especially when they’re already settled in a certain place,” Schoelpple told the Mid North Coaster.
Close friends of hers were “devastated” after floods, with some losing land, swept away and now disappearing with erosion.
“They’re sort of riverfront, grazing land, and they're having to replace and try and find new ways of trying to hold that soil… it's very expensive, it's tiring, it's mentally exhausting.”
Schoelpple said the suffering of livestock was “horrendous”.
💳 Insurance instability: Currently covered by insurance, Schoelpple is preparing for a future where her home is denied cover, or the premium is increased by an affordable amount.
“One day, insurers are going to stop insuring us. That’s very stressful”.
Schoelpple said disasters are “a definite cycle that the entire community has to live with” but she believes there has to be a better way of dealing with it.
“We keep doing the same thing and expecting different outcomes”.
🗞️Read the rest of the article here on our website, including climate impacts and cuts to emissions outlined by the government, and what Australians for Mental Health have to say about it.
🎤 The importance of land management for bushfire control
David Duff talks about the responsibility of landowners to manage fuel load on their property.
Thanks for reading! I’ll be back on Wednesday with another newsletter.
Until then, you can keep up to date on our Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, or check the website.
👋 Ellie
P.S. in case you missed it…
