Patrick Granziera, secretary general of the National Union of French Beekeepers (Unaf), mentions in particular, Wednesday on franceinfo, a particularly mild and humid winter 2024-2025, where bees “resumed their activity sometimes from the end of January, very early”.
:quality(50)/2023/07/07/64a7df4c5fe71_placeholder-36b69ec8.png)
Published
Reading time: 2min
:quality(50)/2025/10/15/maxnewsspecialtwo305162-68ef7281ba3f2655710597.jpg)
“We are very happy to have a great production,” confides Patrick Granziera, secretary general of the National Union of French Beekeepers (Unaf), beekeeper and president of Abeille Gasconne, on franceinfo Wednesday October 15. “Between 23,000 and 25,000 tonnes” of honey were produced in mainland France and overseas, “almost double that of 2024”, estimates Unaf in a press release dedicated to the 2025 honey harvests.
Several factors are involved, but above all very favorable spring weather conditions, which benefited “in the north, west, east and center of France” and a particularly mild and humid winter of 2024-2025, where bees have “resumed their activity sometimes at the end of January, very early”. Patrick Granziera also notes “a little less pesticides” in the fields, thanks to long-term work which is not “not yet won”. “I hope that our farmers will become reasonable and help us a little to produce beautiful honey in quantity,” he adds.
A honeydew, among other things, was “very good and often excellent” this year, according to the press release: acacia honeydew. A success “everywhere”, except in the South-West, where it was “barely okay”. Because these beautiful honey productions on a national scale mask a strong disparity depending on the region.
The South-East, in particular, continues to “suffer the full force of the effects of climate change”writes Unaf. The region suffered “summer conditions unfavorable to production”with heatwaves that have “reduces to nothing any hope of a harvest worthy of the name” and particularly reduced lavender harvests this year. Christian Pons, the president of Unaf, therefore takes advantage of this assessment to warn about the “climate upheaval” and calls for support for French beekeeping.
“Provençal beekeepers who have been particularly affected this year must be able to benefit from public aid to prevent the bankruptcy of weakened beekeeping operations.”
Christian Pons, president of Unafin a press release
Patrick Granziera adds that there also remains the problem of the Asian hornet, a predator for bees, “very hard to manage”but also that of varroa, a bee parasite which can quickly become “a disaster, if we’re not careful.” “But the hardest part is the heat”he concludes, in unison with the president of Unaf.
