SAINT OURS: Beekeepers across France say it has been a disastrous year for honey, with bees starving to death and production plummeting by up to 80 per cent.
Mickael Isambert, a beekeeper in Saint-Ours-les-Roches in central France, lost 70pc of his honey and had to feed his colonies sugar to help them survive after a cold, rainy spring.
“It has been a catastrophic year,” said Isambert, 44, who looks after 450 hives.