As the group tasked with protecting mānuka honey from offshore exploitation continues its work, a Mānuka Charitable Trust Symposium to reaffirm their position was held on September 26.

Miss Bumby’s Mission is a work of historical fiction, told first-person perspective by the eponymous character. Mary Anna Bumby (1811–1862), was a Yorkshire woman who accompanied her brother John Bumby to New Zealand. Mr Bumby was one of the early Wesleyan missionaries to the Māori, arriving in 1839 and settling in the Hokianga region of Northland.

Many people have been asking Ian Fletcher about Gaza. So, this is an effort to look through the fog of war and misinformation, and see the shape of what’s going on.

Dearth September. Admittedly a slower start than last year, but all of our hives have been boosted into action with regular manipulation and feeding. Frames of honey and pollen are added to simulate an early flow, and with the changing of the clocks, the real thing can’t be far behind.

Kiwifruit cooperative Zespri wants beekeepers, especially those who might be auditing hives for pollination, to ‘elevate’ their skills and they are offering the training to make it happen.

Building on Ian Fletcher’s Revitalising Bee Science column last month imploring New Zealand’s apiculture industry to better promote its value to environment and economy, Dave Black casts his gaze wide – from the history of honey bees on these shores to modern global conventions which could provide the pathway beekeepers and scientists seek to advance bee research and support.

Appalled by the perceived “deception” of the American Foulbrood (AFB) Pest Management Plan Agency’s move to establish itself as a Trust just a few months ago, Bay of Plenty Beekeeper Jody Mitchell now calls herself a trustee of that group – New Zealand Bee Health and Biosecurity (NZBB) – along with Mānuka Health national apiculture strategy manager Brian McCall.

Comvita Ltd is almost certain to become wholly owned by Florenz Ltd and delisted from the New Zealand Exchange. Florenz Ltd owns Wedderspoon Organic NZ Ltd, said to be New Zealand’s largest seller of mānuka honey in the US. If the acquisition proceeds, about half of total monofloral mānuka honey exports will fall under the control of a company that operates outside the sphere of influence of the UMF Honey Association.

It’s been a long wait, but New Zealand’s beekeepers will very soon have available to them a fully-registered, long-acting oxalic acid varroa treatment, with UK-headquartered, global apiculture supplier Vita Bee Health recently gaining the necessary approvals.

In our June edition report “Australian Attack ‘Disrespectful and Misleading’, Says Mānuka Charitable Trust”, we laid bare the awkward truth of the intimate relationship between Hive & Wellness Australia Pty Ltd and Comvita Ltd. In this report, Bruce Roscoe sketches the historical context of that closeness and unearths a trove of details that illuminate the fullness of the cooperation.

Comvita Ltd. looks likely to pass into the ownership of health food company Florenz, pending a December shareholder vote. That left one last set of full-year accounts to present as leadership fronted a video call on August 29 to report continued losses and asset writedowns.

In the month following Apiculture New Zealand (ApiNZ) members July 17 vote to keep the group alive and hastily progress a restructuring process, meetings with beekeepers have been held up and down the country. While two more assemblies remain, both ApiNZ and fellow industry body New Zealand Beekeeping Inc (NZBI) are pressing to hastily turn the lessons from consultation into a blueprint for a stronger industry advocacy group.