Beekeepers price pollination contracts on their own judgment, with no shared reference point. We’re finding out where that costs someone real money, and what would change it.

We’re in active discovery with commercial beekeepers and growers across Victoria and NSW, learning how pollination pricing, logistics, and hive management actually work today.

Our Mission

Forage Journal is in active discovery with commercial beekeepers, and the growers who hire them. We’re mapping where pollination contracting and hive management create real, costly friction, before deciding what to build.

Our Mission

Forage Journal is in active discovery with commercial beekeepers, and the growers who hire them. We’re mapping where pollination contracting and hive management create real, costly friction, before deciding what to build.

Our Vision

Pollination contracts run on individual judgment and informal networks. No common reference point exists for pricing, and beekeepers face rising fuel and travel costs on top of that. We’re investigating where this is worth solving, and for whom.

Our Vision

Pollination contracts run on individual judgment and informal networks. No common reference point exists for pricing, and beekeepers face rising fuel and travel costs on top of that. We’re investigating where this is worth solving, and for whom.

An older woman in a green jacket leans over a bale of hay in a barn, holding the blue twine.

The Cost Is High

Almond pollination contracts have risen from under $100 a hive before Varroa to around $200 today, with some contracts reportedly reaching $300, according to the Almond Board of Australia. Commercial pollination is now the largest source of income for many beekeeping businesses, averaging around $225 a hive among surveyed Victorian beekeepers (Agriculture Victoria, Apiary Business Monitor Report),

APPROACH

Listen First: We talk to beekeepers and growers directly, before assuming what they need.

Map the Real Cost: We’re identifying which specific friction, pricing, logistics, or operations, actually costs someone enough to act on.

Validate Before We Build: No product decision until we know who would pay, and why.

The Gap Is Structural

Beekeepers each price pollination contracts their own way. No shared benchmark exists across the industry. Vehicle and travel costs are now their second-largest expense, after labour (Agriculture Victoria, Apiary Business Monitor Report). We’re still working out which gap is worth solving first.

HOW WE'RE PRODUCING

We’re currently in active research with commercial beekeepers and orchard growers across Victoria and NSW.

We’re accepting expressions of interest from beekeepers and growers ready to join field conversations ahead of our first pilot.

A Claas combine harvester unloads grain into a red tractor's blue trailer in a golden wheat field during harvest.

Two smiling men at an outdoor farm equipment dealership; one on a red tractor signs a clipboard held by the other.

The Pressure Is Rising

Varroa mite has cut hive supply and pushed pollination costs higher across the board, adding pressure to an industry that already has no shared reference point for pricing or operations.

HOW IT WORKS

Participants join a 20-minute conversation about how they price, verify, or coordinate pollination work today.

We’re using these conversations to find out where a shared information layer would actually change a decision, before building anything.