Australian Native Bee Program Plan
A staged program with a decision at every step.
Nomia is structured to move from scientific design and infrastructure through ecological establishment, agricultural testing and external replication only when evidence justifies the next stage.
Proceed, revise or stop. Scale is an outcome of evidence, not an assumption built into the plan.
Five connected stages
Design, approvals & funding
Scientific protocols, engineering, governance, approvals, procurement strategy and complete funding structure.
Build & calibrate
Protected habitat, engineered nesting, water, irrigation, forage, monitoring and operational capability.
Population evidence
Establishment, nesting, brood, emergence, seasonal activity, persistence, seasonal return and relevant habitat response.
Agricultural validation
Crop interaction across relevant seasonal flowering windows, appropriate controls, pollinator phenology, yield and quality outcomes, and operational economics where justified.
Replicate & decide
External-site replication, seasonal and regional limits, economics and decision on whether any pathway deserves wider adoption.
Formal multi-season research objective
Where candidate populations establish successfully, Nomia will test whether crop flowering, insect-pollination dependence, pollinator emergence and activity, and floral-resource continuity align across relevant winter and summer production systems. Two crops are not assumed to create two insect-pollination requirements.
Protected research
Create conditions in which key habitat variables can be controlled and observed.
Water & field systems
Support defined treatments, seasonal forage continuity and repeatable field operations.
Deployment capability
Move and prepare habitat materials efficiently where ownership, hire or contracting is justified.
A substantial, staged establishment and evidence-generation program
Year 1 is intended to establish the scientific, physical and operational capability required to test Nomia's core hypotheses properly rather than fund isolated activities that cannot produce decision-grade evidence.
Subject to final scientific design, approvals and funding, the planned scope includes the Coleambally research site, protected habitat, engineered nesting treatments, water and irrigation systems, off-grid power, operations/workshop/research/data capability, native forage, seasonal crop and forage calendars, pollinator-phenology monitoring, habitat processing and deployment, scientific monitoring, independent expertise, staffing, field operations and the proposed external research-site network.
Nomia maintains detailed internal planning budgets and progressively refines them as scientific design, engineering, quotations, procurement and approvals mature. Planning estimates are not treated as fixed tender prices or spending entitlements.
Final expenditure will be governed by confirmed program requirements, available funding, procurement discipline and Board oversight. Current budget information can be provided to prospective funders and institutional partners as part of appropriate due diligence.
Complete outcome first
Nomia should not accept or draw substantial program funding unless it can reasonably assure delivery of the complete funded outcome.
Conditions precedent and staged drawdown are preferable to taking isolated funding that cannot produce decision-grade evidence.
Every stage has an exit.
Proceed
Evidence, safety, operational feasibility and economics justify the next stage.
Revise
The hypothesis remains worth testing but species, habitat, method, scale or measurement needs adjustment.
Stop
Biology, agricultural value, safety, repeatability or economics do not justify additional capital.
Diversified capital with catalytic anchor partners
National-scale work should not depend on a single donor or government program. Nomia intends to combine philanthropy, government and research support, corporate participation, agricultural-sector support, equipment and in-kind assistance, growers and public donations.
A strong catalytic anchor partner can do more than supply capital. Independent due diligence and early institutional support can help unlock additional funding and participation.
People are part of the implementation plan
Grower engagement, extension, communications and habitat-adoption work are program functions, not incidental overhead. Scientific evidence sitting in a report will not restore habitat across Australia. People will.
Thinking too small may make a grant request easier. It would not solve the problem.
Nomia will pursue scale only where the science, delivery capability and funding structure support a complete and defensible outcome.
Government Evidence: The Damage Is Already Being Felt
The consequences of Varroa destructor in Australia are no longer merely projections. Australian government agencies are documenting impacts on beekeepers, hive numbers, pollination services and the effectiveness of available Varroa treatments.
Read the Australian Government and state government evidence directly.
Individual reports of hive loss, treatment resistance, increased pollination cost or crop impact should not automatically be treated as national averages. Nomia distinguishes documented current impacts from credible future risks and relies wherever possible on primary government and scientific evidence.