Fierce AFB Trust Critic Appointed to the Board

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.

Board chair Mark Dingle, himself a Christchurch-based hobby beekeeper, announced the appointment of the two commercial beekeepers to their board on September 10, without making reference to the criticism Mitchell threw the way of NZBB leadership’s when it announced in late June that it would become a standalone, self-governing Trust.

“There has been no communication, there has been no consultation and I don’t see how their little group can be representative of our industry when they have not discussed this with anyone else and snuck it through. It feels like such a lie,” Mitchell said at the time of the Trust announcement.

Jody Mitchell. The Bay of Plenty beekeeper – whose business's honey excellence has previously been recognised at Apimondia's world awards – has gone from harshly questioning the representative ability of the group tasked with managing AFB, to joining their leadership ranks.

The Kaimai Range Honey owner, along with a small group of fellow commercial beekeepers, met with the new Trust’s leadership in the month following and she says it motivated her to throw her hat into the ring when two board positions recently became open.

“Once we got talking to the NZBB board we had some productive discussions and I feel that where we are coming from, is really needed,” Mitchell says.

That “we” is formed with husband Ralph Mitchell, the pair having worked as hands-on beekeepers together for several decades, including stints as AP2 AFB hive inspectors and Bay of Plenty ‘disease coordinators’ for around a decade in the 2010s. The “where” is their family-owned small to medium sized beekeeping business.

“I feel you can’t sit and grizzle about stuff if you are not prepared to try and get on and make a change,” Mitchell says.

The appointment of her and McCall was made by the existing board, with Dingle and fellow board member and East Coast commercial beekeeper Trent Profitt working together as an “appointments panel”. Ten applications came for the two board roles.

“The board is very cognisant of beekeepers’ views and we are aware of some of the criticism we have received,” Dingle says.

“The fact that people may choose to have a different view about what we did and how we did it, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t engage with those people. In fact, quite the opposite. I find it reassuring we have one of those critics saying ‘I think NZBB are doing a pretty good job and I want to engage and participate in that process’. I think that is a very good outcome.”

McCall, Canadian by birth, began beekeeping in 2000 in his homeland. Between 2002 and 2007 he spent all year beekeeping, split between Canada and New Zealand. Since 2007 McCall has been solely New Zealand-based, working first for Steens Honey and then for the past decade at Mānuka Health, which has around 14,000 beehives spread between the North Island and top of the South Island.

“I’ve been in beekeeping a long time and, where I am at in life and my career, I want a bit more of a challenge. As a beekeeper I am always focused on hive health and this role and this Trust aligns with that well. It is a good opportunity to give back and still focus on hive health,” McCall says.

Brian McCall, Mānuka Health national apiculture strategy manager, will bring 25 years beekeeping experience between New Zealand and his native Canada to the role of NZBB trustee.

Part of the reason for the former ‘AFB Agency’ to reform as a Trust is its potential to take on a wider mandate, more fitting with its new ‘bee health and biosecurity’ moniker. The Trust is currently consulting with all registered beekeepers on the matter – alongside a proposal to maintain the current annual levy rate of $1.95+gst per hive and $40+gst per beekeeper. Should beekeepers return a positive response to the proposal, NZBB will then undergo further consultation regarding specifics of an expanded role.

This possible new remit for NZBB is what piqued McCall’s interest in a board role he says.

“If you get it all right, there is potential for New Zealand to be AFB-free, varroa-free and continue to build on how healthy our bees are in New Zealand, compared to the rest of the world. From a marketing point of view it is huge. It’s an exciting opportunity,” he says.

The NZBB board now consists of five commercial beekeepers, Mitchell, McCall, Profitt, Murray Elwood and Lubomir Dudek, and two non-commercial, Dingle and deputy chair Val Graham.

“We have listened to the need for more commercial beekeepers at the board table, so we have responded to that,” Dingle says, having replaced non-commercial beekeeper Jane Röllin, whose board term was due to end, and opened up a board vacancy to appoint the new duo.

“I also want to make sure we have the best possible skill set at the board table and trustees who are looking forward and not back. There are a number of challenges potentially heading our way and we need to look to those things so that we can respond adequately when they arrive.”

NZBB board chair and non-commercial beekeeper Mark Dingle.

Dingle says that McCall brings “experience designing and running large scale beekeeping production systems where they have a focus on AFB elimination” and that a large-scale commercial beekeeping perspective is valuable – “they will quickly tell us if what we are proposing is realistic or not”.

Mitchell’s appointment should strengthen NZBB’s understanding of an area of Kiwi beekeeping that is going to be critical to the industry’s goal of AFB elimination. That being, managing the risk associated with the around 100,000 hives required for kiwifruit pollination each spring, the vast majority of it in Bay of Plenty.

She sees that congregation of honeybee colonies as opportunity, as well as risk, as large ‘dump’ sites of hives where they are stationed pre and post-orchard provide improved proximity for hive assessments. As a beekeeper providing hives for this purpose, Mitchell takes a practical view.

“There is an opportunity that hives come in in advance and we can be working on them in one area, because there are hives coming in that are weak and potentially diseased that are the real risk,” she says.

“There have been ideas around how to manage AFB during pollination, some are good ideas but in practicality things are different. You also don’t want anything to be affecting the pollination service you are giving.”

Both new board appointees say they believe it is possible to eliminate AFB from the country’s managed colonies, but both know it will take increased commitment from the industry.

“I feel we have a lot to bring which could really help,” Mitchell says of her and her husband’s commitment to AFB elimination, which they believe has been achieved at Kaimai Range Honey.

“We have skin in the game. When it is the livelihood of you and your kids you think about it a bit differently. … the majority of us are family businesses trying to survive and the AFB incidence is just adding more stress,” she says, adding, “if we can get it down, so it is not in our face, I feel we can all have better businesses”.