Country

Chile

Chile stretches through so many climates that its honey can move from Mediterranean scrub to cool temperate rainforest without leaving the country. Government data for 2024 recorded 5,690 beekeepers and 1,129,954 hives, with Maule and O'Higgins containing the largest hive concentrations. Most registered beekeepers belong to family, peasant or Indigenous agriculture rather than large industrial operations. The most interesting honey landscapes, however, may lie farther south. In Arauco Province, beekeeper Marcelo Rodríguez harvests rare Tineo honey from the endemic tree Weinmannia trichosperma, followed later by Ulmo honey from Eucryphia cordifolia. His apiary is also part of native-forest restoration work. Chile has a protected regional honey in Alhué, and new genetic research shows the country's managed honeybees are dominated by Eastern European ancestry with relatively low admixture. Chile is even linking registered hive locations with pesticide-notification rules. Bees, forests and geography are becoming remarkably interconnected here.