Wallingford firm Rowse Honey has put up £100,000 for research into the worrying worldwide shortage of honey bees and diseases which are killing them.

English honey bees have been so badly hit by both weather and disease that there will be no English honey on supermarket shelves by Christmas, said Rowse Honey managing director Dr David Bondi.

But despite the seriousness of the situation, Dr Bondi said the jobs of the 160 workers at Rowse Honey were safe.

He said: ”It is a very, very serious situation worldwide and certainly in this country.

“Our research grant over three years is to help scientists try to find the answers.

“This can be done by selective breeding and by concentrating on bees which have hygienic behaviour patterns, such as clearing out of the hives dead or diseased larvae.

“There is also concern that some new pesticides are fatal to bees.

“The whole topic is very fascinating and we hope our contribution can help significantly.

“This research is absolutely vital to our industry.”

On English honey, Dr Bondi said: “A quarter of the bee colonies in England died last winter, mainly because the varroa mite which infects the bees has become resistant to treatments and there are new diseases affecting them as well. There are far fewer commercial beekeepers in this country now and the ones that still exist are ageing.

“Beekeeping seems to have a limited appeal as a career move.

“We have scoured the country trying to find English honey, but there seems to be no one who can supply our needs.

“This means there will be no English honey on our supermarket shelves by Christmas.

“Honey will still be there because we import most of our honey now and the market for honey is rising all the time, but it won’t be English honey.

“We eat 30,000 tonnes of honey a year in this country, but British honey accounts for only ten per cent of what we eat here. The rest is imported.”

Dr Bondi stressed the crisis would not affect Wallingford workers’ jobs.

He said: “There are no worries on that score — we are still packaging and selling all the honey that we can get our hands on.

“No one’s job is at risk.”

Rowse Honey is a major supporter of community activities in Wallingford and sponsors the annual Shrove Tuesday pancake race in the town.

Also concerned at the lack of bees is the National Farmers’ Union because the bees pollinate crops, and wildlife trusts nationwide have expressed concerns because so many wild flowers are pollinated by bees.