Moves are underway to bring the beekeeping clubs of New Zealand together into a national organisation that could provide a better avenue for reaching many of the country’s 7000 hobbyist beekeepers, and create strength in numbers for bee clubs. Led by Auckland Beekeepers Club president Ken Brown, a group comprising representatives from 16 clubs has met online and since then 29 clubs from all corners of the country have been invited to another pivotal online meeting, scheduled

Just over two months from its launch, Honey and Bees New Zealand (HBNZ) is calling on beekeepers, whether they are members or not, to let their opinions be heard and help shape the new commercial-beekeeper-centric group.

With no new yellow-legged hornet detections since April, Biosecurity New Zealand is stepping up surveillance this spring as the risk of surviving queens emerging from winter increases. Trapping continues, new tracking technology is being introduced, and scientists are trialling freshwater eDNA testing as another possible detection tool.

On September 10, after five months of planning, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI)-led “Bee Alliance” gathered in Wellington for the first time, bringing together representative groups from most corners of apiculture and even some growers.

In our September edition, we carried a report on the Kānuka Industry Hui held in Rotorua 17-18 August, Kānuka Honey: Time to Stand on Its Own. It was “unmistakable”, the report said, that the “market opportunity” for kānuka honey and kānuka oil was “already there”. Bruce Roscoe discusses “market opportunity” for non-mānuka honey types and backgrounds the Treaty of Waitangi reports that bear on the question of naming rights for the words kānuka and mānuka. This cartoon was gen

Last month New Zealand Manuka Group published something not seen for many years in the New Zealand honey industry, a honey pricing schedule titled “Bee Up Front”. Now chief executive Phil Caskey expands on his and the company’s philosophy and vision for the industry where the UMF brand is better harnessed to protect the value of mānuka honey...

Combining advanced manufacturing capability, rigorous quality standards and a strong commitment to sustainability, Stowers and Pact Group delivers packaging solutions that support local and export honey applications.

Hobby beekeepers lose a disproportionate rate of colonies over winter, compared to commercial operators, the NZ Colony Loss Survey has long told us. However, that same survey shows there are some simple actions hobby beekeepers can take to help improve the chances of colony survival, explains departing survey lead Pike Stahlmann-Brown. BSI scientist Pike Stahlmann-Brown spent 11 years as the lead of New Zealand’s Colony Loss Survey, but now MPI will undertake the newly brande

Last year Aimz rocked into her beekeeping work in October and now, with expert timing, she’s at it again, bopping away in the Bay of Plenty… It’s the end of the world as we know it – and I feel fine. With pollination just a shot away, it’s time to rock around the clock. For what it’s worth, welcome to another Rock-tober special. Imagine there’s no heaven. Only kiwifruit orchards, netting forever. Row after row after identical row. Low hanging canopies, jutting pergolas, spray

Last month vastly-experienced top bureaucrat Ian Fletcher took aim at Accountability in the Public Sector. This month that thought process continues with a diagnosis of the public sector’s overriding ills and a cure that might compromise some political neutrality amongst sector leaders, but will raise much-needed competence and accountability. Ian Fletcher oversaw a 40 percent head count reduction while working for the Queensland government and says staff cuts in the public s

Springbank Honey’s assets will soon be for sale. A recent receivers report into the controversial and embattled beekeeping and honey trading business describes ‘discrepancies’ in asset records and incomplete information provided by the Canterbury company, which is also now the subject of liquidation proceedings undertaken by a beekeeper owed nearly half a million dollars. A first receivers report into both Springbank Honey Ltd and fellow Brown family farming business Glenbu

Honey and Bees New Zealand’s (HBNZ) first five weeks of existence have proven active, with a new seven-person board room and chairperson now at the helm overseeing a back-to-basics management team. They have signalled an early win too, with the announcement of plans for a July 15-16 conference in Napier in 2027.