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The flowers and bees have suffered from the lack of water and high temperatures this summer. The 2022 honey harvest will fluctuate between 12,000 and 14,000 tons, below beekeepers' expectations, the French National Beekeeping Union (Unaf) said on Monday. The historic drought episode has dried up lavender, fir and chestnut trees. It is the first time that harvests have been so heterogeneous, with areas of production that are "more than mediocre" and others where beekeepers "have succeeded in producing beautiful honey", according to Unaf.

The organisation was hoping to recover from a disastrous year in 2021, "the worst for French beekeeping", when the harvest fell to between 7,000 and 9,000 tons of honey. Climate change, the effects of which have been "felt by beekeepers for a good fifteen years", is leading to increasingly early flowering, which ends in July whereas it used to last all summer.

Their quality determines the flavour and quantity of honey produced and also affects the health of the bees. Above a certain temperature, the flowers can no longer produce the nectar on which these foraging insects feed. After a relatively mild winter, the early harvests of rosemary and thyme "were more than mediocre" and that of lavender was "very disappointing", according to Unaf.

In the Landes, the forest fires have seriously damaged the bourdaine and the heather, completely preventing honey production. Harvests are also increasingly uncertain: for acacia, they were "either excellent" in Burgundy or Ile-de-France, or destroyed by late frosts in the South-West. In the mountains, where the vegetation was not spared, honey flows were "generally poor". They are also "too often weak" in the forests of the East, where fir trees grow.

In areas with alfalfa or sainfoin, "which are resistant to the harsh climate", beekeepers have achieved better harvests. The flowering of rape and spring flowers also saved the day this year. Another consequence of the drought is that bees have not been able to transform enough nectar into honey and thus build up reserves to draw on during the winter. This will weaken their ability to get through this harsh season in good conditions, warns Unaf.