Toroslar

A wet winter and spring have turned the opening of the honey harvest in Mersin’s Eğriçayır Yaylası into a hopeful moment for local beekeepers. Habertürk Yerel Haberler, carrying material from İhlas Haber Ajansı, reported on July 17, 2026, that producers in the high Toroslar had begun the first honey extractions after moving their hives up from lower elevations roughly a month earlier. The early signs, according to the beekeepers interviewed, are unusually strong: frames are full, bees have built extra comb in places where producers did not expect it, and the flowers that feed the bees have recovered after rain and snow.

The story is centered on Eğriçayır Yaylası, one of the high-altitude beekeeping areas associated with Mersin’s mountain honey identity. The primary report describes the plateau as being above 2,000 meters, while a late-June İhlas Haber Ajansı item carried by Saray Medya placed the seasonal production area at about 2,400 meters. The slight difference in elevation wording does not change the core point: the beekeeping described in both reports is taking place in the same high Toroslar environment, where summer temperatures are cooler and flowering plants can support nectar flow after hives are moved away from the coast.

A Seasonal Journey from Coast to Highland

Mersin’s beekeeping cycle depends on movement. Habertürk’s report says the province has more than 4,000 beekeepers and notes that many of them spend the winter months at sea level before moving into the Toroslar in summer. That pattern allows colonies to follow the changing season: earlier activity in lower areas, then a move toward higher pastures where flowers bloom later and where the air is cooler. In Eğriçayır, this year’s summer phase has opened with a level of abundance producers had not seen in the drier seasons that preceded it.

The June 22 Saray Medya report, also attributed to İhlas Haber Ajansı, helps show how the same season was developing before the July harvest began. It reported that the honey production period had started in Eğriçayır Yaylası after a rainy winter, with beekeepers moving hives to the plateau and expecting a productive season. Celal Çay, the beekeeper also named in the July harvest report, was described there as saying the colonies were strong enough to collect nectar and that nature looked abundant for the year. By mid-July, the primary report shows those expectations turning into the first extractions.

The reason producers are more optimistic is not presented as a mystery. The primary report links the strong start directly to snow and rain during winter and spring. Çay said snowmelt and rainfall had watered the flowers of Eğriçayır Yaylası, giving bees the nectar base they needed. In the same account, he contrasted this year with recent dry years, when weaker rainfall reduced harvest expectations and discouraged producers. This season, the report says, water has returned to springs and places where sources had dried or become inactive, and that change is visible inside the hives.

Full Frames After Dry Years

The most striking sign of the season is the condition of the hives. According to Habertürk’s İhlas Haber Ajansı report, Çay said the bees had gone beyond simply filling the frames: they had built comb in the upper spaces under the cover cloth and filled that comb with honey as well. For beekeepers, that kind of extra comb is more than a visual detail. It indicates that the colony had enough nectar coming in, enough strength to build wax, and enough favorable timing to store honey beyond the standard frame space.

Harvest work described in the primary report followed the practical rhythm of beekeeping. Frames were removed from the hives and carried to a tent for extraction. Before the honey could be spun out, the capped wax on the combs was opened with a honeycomb fork. Those steps are routine, but in this case the report uses them to show the material reality behind the optimism: heavy frames, capped cells and natural comb that producers could see and handle as the first sağımlar began.

Ecem Durmaz, another beekeeper interviewed in the primary report, also pointed to the bees’ natural comb-building as a sign of a strong season. She said rain had helped the flowers and plants, strengthening the flora of the plateau. Durmaz described the honey as fragrant and flavorful, and said the season’s quality looked almost unavoidable because each hive was abundant and overflowing with honey. Her comments align with the broader explanation repeated in both the June and July coverage: when the highland flowers recover, the bees respond quickly.

Why Eğriçayır Honey Draws Wider Attention

Eğriçayır honey is not only a local harvest story. The primary report notes that honey from the area has previously received recognition in a competition of the World Beekeeping Organization and that it has a scientifically supported high TA, or Total Activity, value. Additional sources help fill in some of those details. Apitherapy Turkiye (Turkey) reported that Eğriçayır and Celal Çay represented Turkiye (Turkey) at the 46th Apimondia International Apicultural Congress in Montréal, Canada, held from September 8 to 12, 2019, and won first prize in the category for three jars of clear, light-coloured run honey with a polyfloral liquid honey product.

The scientific context comes from a Journal of Apicultural Science article published in December 2024. The study, by Habip Tokbaş and Mahir Turhan of Mersin University’s Department of Food Engineering, examined honey from the Egricayir Plateau through Total Activity testing. Thirty honey samples were collected twice from the plateau, in early July and late August 2023, and all samples had TA values above 10. The study reported that 72 percent of the samples were in the therapeutically high category, with an average TA of 21. These findings do not measure the 2026 harvest, but they support the primary report’s narrower statement that honey from the plateau has scientific backing for high TA values.

The same study described the plateau’s honey as polyfloral and tied its character to the foraging landscape around Eğriçayır. It listed nectar sources including thyme, keven, cornflower, wild clover, thistle, heather, phacelia and chaste berry, along with other plants. That matters for understanding the July 2026 report: when beekeepers say the flora strengthened after rain and snow, they are describing the living foundation of a honey whose identity depends on a mix of highland plants rather than a single crop.

A Rural Economy Tied to Weather and Water

The local importance of the harvest comes from the way beekeeping connects family labor, seasonal movement, mountain ecology and market reputation. Habertürk’s primary report does not give a current production volume, a sales price, the number of hives harvested in the first round or any export plan for the 2026 season. That absence is important. The available evidence supports a story about a strong opening, not a final accounting of the season’s tonnage or revenue.

Even without those figures, the early harvest is meaningful for producers who have lived through dry years. Çay’s comments in the primary report frame the season as a recovery of confidence: rainfall revived flowers, springs began flowing again and colonies responded by filling their combs. In beekeeping, weather does not act in the background; it shapes the pasture, the timing of nectar flow, the strength of colonies and the amount of honey that can be taken without weakening the bees.

The late-June and mid-July reports together show a clear sequence. First, beekeepers moved hives into Eğriçayır Yaylası and began the production period with strong colonies after a rainy winter. Then, about a month after the move, the first extractions began and producers reported unusually full frames. That progression makes the July harvest report more than a single optimistic scene. It is the visible result of a seasonal system that depends on moving at the right time and finding enough flowers at the right elevation.

For Mersin, the first frames coming out of Eğriçayır Yaylası are therefore both an agricultural signal and a local livelihood story. The season is still unfolding, and no verified total harvest figure has been provided. But the facts now available point in the same direction: after rain and snow revived the highland flora, bees in Eğriçayır began filling their hives with a force that surprised and encouraged producers. In a region where honey depends on water, flowers and altitude, the 2026 season has opened with relief, pride and cautious optimism.