Crucial “Open Session” ApiNZ AGM Just Weeks Away

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.

Members were advised, via email exactly a month out, that the Sudima Hotel at Christchurch Airport is to be the venue for the – potentially last – AGM on July 17, along with a ‘Beekeepers’ Day Out’ the following day.

The Sudima Hotel at Christchurch Airport will be the venue for an AGM to decide the future of Apiculture New Zealand on July 17.

The announcement came almost three months after members voted at a March 25 online Special General Meeting to put on hold resolutions to dissolve the industry-good group until a later in-person AGM, giving the Board and staff time to consider a more sustainable model, as financial constraints tighten.

“The ApiNZ Board and management team has taken that time to review feedback from members. During this process we have also recognised the need for the wider industry to be involved in a debate on the future role and need for an industry good organisation,” states the June 17 email signed off by ‘the ApiNZ Board and Management team’.

Attendance to the AGM is open and non-members will be allowed to speak, but not vote.

With fellow industry body New Zealand Beekeeping Inc having facilitated open ‘roundtable’ meetings in recent months, key protagonists from that process are expected to attend in person and contribute to both open sessions either side of the AGM. The later session, following the AGM, is expected to have a ‘where to now’ approach.

A video link to participate in both is also available to those who wish to partake remotely.

ApiNZ members specifically called for an “in-person” AGM back on March 25 to assist in making a decision on the group’s future. The Board hasn’t appeared in a rush to set the date and venue though, and the South Island location is peculiar given only around one third of registered beekeepers reside on the Mainland. Answering for her Board, CEO Karin Kos offered little in the way of explaining the prevarication in announcing the meeting details.

“The Board took the three months to consider next steps, which would have been end of June. We also thought it made sense to have something aligned with the Canterbury Hub field day which was announced at the same time – we think the combination of the two makes it worthwhile for people to take time out and come along. And of course, those that do want to be involved and can’t make it in person can join online,” Kos says.

“As ApiNZ members will know, we’ve always made sure that the national conferences rotated between North and South Island – every two years to the South Island. We took that approach to the AGM/industry day, after two years of North Island events, and from feedback from our South Island members.”

The Beekeepers’ Day Out hosted by the Canterbury Hub of ApiNZ in 2023 at Lincoln University. A similarly-formatted event will be held on July 18 at Sudima Hotel in Christchurch.

The Canterbury Hub of ApiNZ regularly holds winter Beekeepers’ Day Out events and the 2025 version is expected to follow the successful blueprint of trade displays from industry suppliers and expert presentations – with “viruses, queens, AFB, US colony loss, and varroa treatment delivery methods” the topics outlined. Registration for that day is $75, while the July 17 sessions are hosted free of charge by ApiNZ with thanks to sponsors New Zealand Beeswax.

Organisers are in the process of confirming an evening dinner function for July 17 at the hotel, allowing attendees to remain on site, continue discussions, and socialise.

In a busy week for the honey industry, the two days in Christchurch will come immediately after the Unique Mānuka Factor Honey Association’s (UMFHA) AGM in Hamilton on July 16.

ApiNZ formed in 2016, primarily an amalgamation between the National Beekeepers Association, which had been in existence since 1913, and the Federated Farmers Beekeepers Division. In November 2024, having undertaken a multi-year $490,000 (of which $309,000 was tax-payer funded) industry assessment project, ApiNZ proposed merging with UMFHA, only for UMF members to deny the pitch. As a result, as finances went further into the red, ApiNZ’s Board proposed dissolution at the March 2025 SGM. At that point the members gave the mandate to better investigate a new structure and meet in person.

If they have come up with something, July 17 is when both members and wider industry will find out about it and – with ApiNZ having recently controversially removed as management agency of the American Foulbrood Pest Management Plan (as detailed in Blindsided Beekeepers See Red at AFB PMP Change) – lively discussion beckons at an Airport-adjacent hotel in the Garden City.

You can register for either, or both, events online here.