Economic aspects of honey bee queen breeding: insights from a European study

Abstract

In 2017, the European Commission initiated the EurBeST study to explore the possibilities of using selective breeding of honey bees to increase Varroa resistance traits. One of the specific aims of the study was to assess the process of honey bee queen breeding through an economic analysis. The methodology for calculating the costs of queen production (queen rearing and mating), colony evaluation and expenses for estimating breeding values is based on the Cost of Production (CoP). Cost data were collected via tailor-made questionnaires and interviews performed in five European countries (France, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Poland). The sample population consisted of 20 queen producers and 20 performance testers who participated in the study. The results showed that the average costs for queen production amounted to 22.58 e per queen, ranging from 8.22 e in Poland to 37.30 e in France. The difference between the selling price and the production cost was on average 3.08 e per queen, ranging from 15.86 e in Germany to −12.30 e in France. On average, the colony evaluation costs were 193.40 e per colony. The average cost for breeding value estimation per queen was 8.09 e. Thus, the average total cost per selected queen was 224 e. The selective breeding of honey bees is an efficient way to increase productivity, reduce colony losses, improve bee health and enable profitable operations, but it is expensive, is usually promoted, practiced and implemented by scientists and researchers, and in most cases is financed by external sources.