Please join us on for our June meeting. Our guest speaker will be Dr Tobias Smith, speaking on A study tour of the Stingless Bee Industry in Malaysia.

All are welcome to attend in person at Bulimba Community Centre, 1 Barramul St, Bulimba, Brisbane. Free for members, $5 for non-members. ANBA members can attend by Zoom, a link to join will be sent by email about 3 days prior to the event.

Title: A 2023 tour of the Stingless Bee Industry in Peninsula Malaysia

Abstract: In this monthly seminar, Tobias will talk about his recent trip to Peninsula Malaysia. Tobias travelled to Malaysia to gain insights into the Malaysian stingless bee industry to identify ideas and practices that could have the potential to benefit Australia’s stingless bee industry. The trip was funded by an AgriFutures Capacity Building Travel Grant that Tobias was awarded in 2022. Tobias met with stingless bee researchers and commercial stingless bee keepers/honey sellers around the country. The Malaysian stingless bee industry is much larger than Australia’s stingless bee industry, and it has established itself as a honey producing industry. It is producing, processing and selling hundreds of tons of honey per year. Almost all stingless bee keepers manage their bees solely for the production of honey. Much of this honey is for the domestic market, but some sellers are also selling honey overseas. While the Malaysian and Australian stingless bee keeping industries share many broad similarities, there are a number of fundamental differences too. Tobias will talk about these similarities and differences, and share his thoughts on some Malaysian practices that could potentially benefit Australian stingless bee keepers.

Bio: Tobias Smith is a bee researcher, lecturer, community educator and stingless bee keeper. As a researcher and lecturer Tobias is based at the University of Queensland, where his research interests focus mainly on stingless bee biology and ecology. In addition to general ecology lecturing, Tobias teaches hands-on bee identification workshops. As a community educator Tobias presents native bee and pollination workshops to community groups and schools, primarily through his business Bee Aware Kids. As a beekeeper Tobias keeps native stingless bee hives around south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales, and helps to manage many more as a stingless beekeeping consultant.