Although the definition of kānuka honey may still be up for debate, Sri Govindaraju and Sunil Pinnamaneni of The Experiment Company (TEC) firmly agree on one thing: robust scientific testing and clear, transparent labelling are essential to adding lasting value to the industry. The husband-and-wife team has spent the past five years juggling continents, raising children, and investing their personal savings into developing a one-of-a-kind testing machine and launching a dedic

Listening to everybody’s comments, ideas and opinions at the recent Apiculture New Zealand (ApiNZ) AGM and Industry Forum in Christchurch, my assessment was that industry unity in one way or another was hoped for by most and that we should get our act together pronto.

When you have been involved in beekeeping for as long as I have, you’re bound to have seen a few disasters and learned from a few mistakes. You wouldn’t think there was much left for me to learn, but the other day I had my nose rubbed firmly in all of the above…

With two vacancies emerging on their board, the recently formed New Zealand Bee Health and Biosecurity Trust (NZBB) have put the call out to commercial beekeepers – ‘we want you’. In recent years applicants have been thin on the ground, but the current chair is hoping recent interest in their move to a new independent model of governance will entice more to step forward.

It’s been said ‘an army marches on its stomach’ and any beekeeper worth their salt knows that their honey bees’ diet (including ‘salt’!) is essential to their output, in peace and war. As yet we haven’t been able to fully replicate a complete, naturally-foraged diet with supplementary alternatives. Could that soon change?

When dnature Diagnostics and Research first coined their concept of qPCR testing for American foulbrood (AFB) it was predominantly with swabbing of hive entrances in the field in mind. Nothing stays the same for long in the New Zealand honey industry though and now, as removing spores from export honey becomes a pressing issue, alongside a huge upswing in the trade of used equipment, its value to beekeepers and honey sellers grows.

So, our school holidays went down like a lead balloon. As the term ended, the playground plague was activated with warlike precision. Reminds me of the previous holidays actually – a time to puke, a time to cry, I wish that cough had passed us by. Four spluttering, snotty weeks later, the 100-day cough has ripped through all but the youngest of my four kids.

With harvest behind us, the kiwifruit industry turns to the season ahead. Winter canopy management moves into budbreak enhancers, from which spring will flourish and the arrival of the bees.

All the best and brightest minds in New Zealand’s honey bee research in one room, along with the beekeepers who want to be brought up to speed on the latest findings – that’s the idea behind the New Zealand Honey Bee Research Symposium which will see its sixth iteration take place in Wellington, Thursday August 28.

The Honey Industry Trust (HIT) is set to come to the rescue of Apiculture New Zealand (ApiNZ) – for the short-term at least – with a...

On June 27 the Minister for Biosecurity, Andrew Hoggard, dropped a bombshell announcement – the sole compulsory levy funded aspect of the beekeeping industry, the American Foulbrood Pest Management Plan (AFB PMP) would be under new governance, in the form of a Charitable Trust led by existing board members. The news has been met with anger from some beekeepers decrying an “abhorrent lack of transparency” and “despicable conduct”. Despite this, tentative steps towards an impro

Apiculture New Zealand (ApiNZ) – caught in limbo over a Board proposal to disestablish – is calling an “open session on how we can regenerate industry leadership and determine how that is organised” to bookend their Annual General Meeting in July, thus forecasting the Christchurch meeting as a crucial juncture in the history of an organisation with roots dating back 112 years.