Climate change poses huge challenges for our bees, says Hanna Backmo, one of Ireland's few commercial beekeepers who supplies honey and beeswax products to more than 100 stores across the country. “It's been a bad year for honey and bees, but the native honeybees have really survived. Two years ago, due to the lack of rain, we had the worst summer in the last 30 years in terms of honey production. Last year was excellent, but unfortunately this year is not looking too good,” he says. The founder of Hanna's Bees notes that between the late arrival of spring, a period of fine weather and subsequent rain, this period has affected honey production. (Louise Walsh)