Save bees.
Support farmers.
Keep food affordable.
A community funded conservation initiative putting permanent hives on working farms across Australia. Sponsor a hive from $10.
Bees disappear.
Then food gets expensive.
The Problem
Varroa mite has reached Australia. It has been detected in five states and territories and is the worst biosecurity crisis in Australian beekeeping history. New Zealand lost almost all of its feral honey bee colonies after Varroa established there. Australia is on the same path.
When feral colonies die out, the free pollination Australian farms have relied on for generations goes with them. Farmers will need managed hives to keep crops growing. That is an unexpected cost on top of diesel up 88% and fertiliser that has doubled in price. Most farmers are not prepared for it.
$12.9 billion worth of Australian crops depend on bee pollination every year. Almonds, apples, cherries, avocados, blueberries, and stone fruit are all heavily reliant on bees. Every cost on the farm ends up at the checkout. Fewer bees means lower yields, tighter supply, and higher prices for the food you buy every week.
What We Are Doing
1000 Hives is a community funded conservation initiative building a national network of one thousand permanently managed hives on working farms across Australia. Every hive replaces the free pollination that Varroa is wiping out.
Behind every hive there is a sponsor, a working farm, and a commercial beekeeper. The sponsor backs the hive from as little as ten dollars and follows it from build to placement. The farm gets year round pollination at no cost. The beekeeper manages the colony, runs the inspections, and updates the sponsor with photos and data straight from the property.
Every hive is fitted with sensors that track weight, temperature, humidity, and acoustic signatures every fifteen minutes. That builds a real world managed hive dataset we are opening to Australian universities studying Varroa, colony health, and food security. As a sponsor you see the same data the scientists do.
The bill farmers never saw coming
Commercial beekeepers explain what Varroa mite is doing to the Australian industry right now, and why farms that have relied on free wild pollination for generations are about to face a cost they never budgeted for.
This is why 1000 Hives matters, and why it matters now.
How sponsorship works
Three steps. No mystery. You see exactly where your money goes and what it does.
Choose your hive
Pick a hive from our network. Each one is permanently placed on a working farm and managed by a local beekeeper. This is not a donation that disappears. Your hive stays on the land, season after season.
Your money goes to work
100% of your sponsorship goes to placing and maintaining the hive. Equipment, bee colonies, land preparation, and ongoing health inspections. No middlemen. No admin fees. Full transparency.
See exactly what is happening
Your beekeeper sends you regular updates with photos, inspection data, and what the bees are foraging on. You see the work happening on the ground, not just a receipt.
The Varroa threat is here
Varroa mite was first detected in NSW in 2022 and has now spread to five states and territories across Australia. New Zealand lost nearly all of its wild honey bee population after Varroa established there. Australia is next unless we act. Managed, permanently placed hives with strict biosecurity protocols are our best defence.
SPONSOR A HIVEFarms need bees. Bees need farms.
Most of the fruit, vegetables, and nuts Australians eat depend on bee pollination. Without managed hives on farmland, yields fall and food production suffers. Our hives are permanently placed on working farms, improving pollination and ecosystem health year round. The farmer pays nothing and gets a professionally managed apiary on their land.
BECOME A FARM PARTNERHive Merch
Wear the cause. Every purchase supports the network.
The Advocate Hoodie
The Original Hoodie
The Statement Hoodie
The Supporter Hoodie
The Backer Hoodie
The Double Down Hoodie
The Repeater Hoodie
The Understated Hoodie
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Farm stories, conservation milestones, and real impact updates. Watch real change unfold across Australian farmland, one hive at a time.
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