Eight weeks out of the varroa parasite outbreak, NSW has eased restrictions on the movement of thousands of pollinating beehives, but the decision comes too late for many almond growers.
The NSW Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders said he was confident that varroa mite is being controlled and has scrapped the yellow notification zones set up around infected properties.
The changes allow bees and beehives on more than 3,700 properties to be able to move again, but the CEO of the Almond Board of Australia, Tim Jackson, said the production had already taken a hit.
Production will be down a bit as a result, and it is a bit late, according to Jackson.
Jackson said the news was still welcome and would give Riverina almond growers access to enough bees, but other states were still not allowing cross-border movements.
The pollination rates of Victoria could be as low as 50 per cent, considering Victoria grows about 60 per cent of Australia's almonds.
Today is the eighth week since the deadly bee parasite was first detected at sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle, triggering a statewide movement ban.
There are now 97 infected properties across the state.
Biosecurity zones were imposed within 10 kilometre, 25 kilometre, and 50 kilometre radiuses of detections, marking eradication zones, surveillance zones, and notification zones.
The NSW Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders said there was no longer a need for the outer yellow notification zone.
We've done everything we can. The teams have been on the ground doing a lot of work to get here, and I think that's a great result. Millions of bees have been exterminated as part of the state's control response to varroa mite in the red zones.
More than 2,500 hives were sampled in the now-scrapped yellow zones, and no mites were found.
He said he was confident that the changes would have an immediate effect.
He said that the beekeepers - around 277 commercial beekeepers and more than 3,500 recreational beekeepers - will now be able to apply for a permit to move.
It's all based on the fact that we've done a lot of testing over the past few months to make sure we feel comfortable doing what we're doing.
NSW Apiarists' Association President Steve Fuller said that while almonds missed out, blueberry, apple, avocado and macadamia growers would be grateful.
He said that it is beginning to give a bit of normality back to some of the industry that has been stuck in a non-movement zone for a couple of months.
It's not so much freedom, but it allows us to work our hives and move our hives a little bit easier. Mr Fuller will start to prepare his hives that were in the yellow zone, surrounding the infested premise at Nana Glen, for macadamia pollination.
He said that there were 1,500 hives locked down around the Grafton area. Removal of the yellow zone allows me to get my hives ready for the macadamia season, which is coming up in about six weeks' time.
We do have some blueberries that aren't in the purple or red zones at the moment. We also have stone fruit and apples coming up in September and avocadoes coming up in September.