Getting Around the Table

Last week eight apiculture industry leaders met in Wellington, with four more attending via video-link, to discuss the potential for an all-encompassing, national, industry body to represent beekeepers. What were the discussion points? What was the result? And who was conspicuous by their absence? Apiarist’s Advocate editor Patrick Dawkins sat in.

A tentative step forward on a road to greater unification – or at minimum, communication – between beekeeping groups from around New Zealand was the result of the April 10 meeting hosted by New Zealand Beekeeping Inc (NZBI) at the Wellington Club. The need for a “peak body” to represent beekeepers was not only stated by several in attendance, but was clearly apparent as discussion turned to issues as varied as the industry’s unpreparedness for a biosecurity incursion, the undervaluing of informal pollination services provided by honey bees and the ongoing struggle for beekeepers to turn a profit in the face of spiralling costs.

It was also agreed by the group of 12 – many past or nearing retirement age – that “new blood” is desperately needed to lead the industry forward.

ApiNZ chief executive Karin Kos said their focus at present was considering their own organisations’ future structure and funding model and so they did not attend the roundtable meeting.

Talking beekeeper representation at the April 10 roundtable meeting hosted by New Zealand Beekeeping Inc at The Wellington Club are, from left, Cameron Martin, Murray Bush, Frank Lindsay, Jane Lorimer, Barbara Pimm, Ian Fletcher, Mark Dingle and Niha Long.

The beekeeping groups represented, either in person or on video, were of a regional nature, and were joined by American Foulbrood Pest Management Plan (AFB PMP) board chair Mark Dingle and national compliance manager Niha Long. The non-attendance of Apiculture New Zealand (ApiNZ) leadership was telling though, with numerous of their board and staff extended invitations. Their ostensible vote of no-confidence in the process was perhaps unsurprising, given their plans for industry restructure through a multi-year developed New Zealand Honey Strategy released in early 2024 have been staunchly opposed by NZBI from the outset and have subsequently failed to materialise. The result has ApiNZ on the brink of disestablishment.

Those who participated shared their thoughts on how they create supportive and appealing environments for beekeepers; what they see as the biggest issues facing beekeepers that a national representative body would ideally address; and ideas about what the basic structure of such a group might be, or where to look for templates to emulate.

The meeting was facilitated by NZBI executive member Ian Fletcher, and along with the AFB PMP attendees sat Frank Lindsay, president of Southern North Island Beekeeping Group, NZBI president and Waikato beekeeper Jane Lorimer and fellow executive member and Bay of Plenty beekeeper Cameron Martin, plus member and now retired beekeeper Barbara Pimm. Also in the room was recently-retired long-time Marlborough commercial beekeeper Murray Bush, “representing the great unwashed” as he put it – having not been affiliated to any beekeeping groups, outside his local club, since 2019.

Ian Fletcher.

Tuning in on the video link were Southern Beekeepers Discussion Group member and Otago apiarist Peter Ward, Nick Taylor of ApiNZ’s Canterbury Hub, Richard Kidd of beekeeping and contract honey extraction business Marshwood Apiaries in Northland, and Shaun Lawlor of Lawlor Apiaries in Southland, who has also been unaffiliated since the National Beekeepers Association became ApiNZ in 2016.

“We are at a crossroads and we need to make sure beekeepers are well represented … we are keen to hear everyone else’s views,” Lorimer said to lead-off the meeting.

Each participant was given time to voice what they saw as the most important issues facing beekeepers – the “diagnosis” – and then later define how they think these might best be addressed – a “prescription”.

Putting into context the current struggles for many beekeepers amidst fallen honey prices was Long, who explained that she recently spent two hours on the phone with a beekeeper in tears and contemplating suicide as his family beekeeping business struggled to tread a viable path.

“My staff and I get a lot of those type of phone calls. We are not disconnected to what you are feeling,” the AFB PMP manager explained.

Taylor, who along with his Canterbury ApiNZ hub role is also general manager of industry supplier and beeswax buyer New Zealand Beeswax, put forward that “there is going to be an exhaustive list of issues facing commercial beekeepers right now” and that “profitability” was at the head of that.

“Then, on the hot button topic of representation, the feedback I continually get is split in two. One is they are looking for peak industry representation when it matters most … someone they trust to represent their interests. Then the flip side is they are looking for communication and interaction with fellow beekeepers and an ability to get together,” Taylor said.

Pimm pin-pointed a significant hurdle to gaining effective commercial beekeeper representation.

“A major issue is there aren’t many of us. We are a relatively small industry, with a big role to play in our economy,” she said.

“I have seen various numbers, but you never get to more than 380 truly commercial beekeepers,” Fletcher provided.

“There’s an economy of scale to consider,” Martin pointed out. “You could have 1000 members, and the cost of running the group would be largely the same as if you had 250.”

That combines with the impediment of beekeepers facing poor honey pricing and thus being forced to dedicate a greater proportion of their time and financial resources to their business to keep them afloat, the inter-generational Bay of Plenty beekeeper explained.

“With the way beekeeping is at the moment, it has never been more time consuming and energy sapping in trying to keep beehives alive, paying compliance costs, preventing [bee] starvation, living costs. At the end of the day, do some of us have any time to contribute more to another aspect of beekeeping?

“Then you have a lot of beekeepers that are disengaged and sick of industry matters. We have a lot of work to do to reengage them, get them to want to be part of an industry group and engage willingly and contribute,” Martin said.

From the Southern group, Ward pointed out that their younger beekeepers are “cash and time poor” – often due to raising young families – and tend to participate at the lowest level because they are “just too darn busy”, but still get value in their membership.

The veteran-apiarist called for industry “cohesion” and the need for “a single voice” which he noted had been “difficult to achieve over the past few years”.

“There needs to be varying groups throughout the country. We all have issues that occur, whether it is north or south, honey production or pollination, packing and exporting, we all have difficult issues we are grappling with. But, there needs to be the ability to come together as a single voice before the government and regulatory bodies. That has been desperately missing in the last five or 10 years,” Ward said.

From his position of AFB PMP board chair, Dingle highlighted perhaps the most alarming aspect of beekeeping that has suffered from a lack of industry agreement and contribution – the unpreparedness for a potential new biosecurity incursion.

“Where’s the plan? The short answer is we don’t have one, not a current one that is fit for purpose.” Dingle pointed out.

Both the AFB Agency and NZBI said they have raised this issue with Minister for Biosecurity Andrew Hoggard.

“The question is, who is paying for it? The levy we receive currently can only be used for AFB-related activity. So … at some point we need to address the question of who is paying,” Dingle said.

On the topic of who is paying, the long-talked about undervaluing of beekeeping by the country due to honey bees’ vast role as pollinators – both in “formal” and ‘informal” pollination arrangements – was discussed.

The humble honey bee contributes to the New Zealand economy in more ways than just honey, with kiwifruit among the many crops pollinated. Beekeepers should seek to leverage their role in pollination to help protect their industry, it was suggested at the April 10 meeting.

“Pollination is the route to building support among horticulture producers, orchardists, and – frankly – we have missed the boat,” Fletcher contributed.

“We need to make sure pollination is not just what we do, but what we can talk about meaningfully and powerfully. We need to make it clear to people responsible for the economy, the environment and other rural supply chains that the work beekeepers do is vital, irreplaceable and a single point of failure in a whole bunch of other peoples’ prosperity … Therefore, fixing it should matter to others.

“The challenge is to get a lot of people who don’t know much about beekeeping to understand it, to understand more, so they don’t stuff it up,” the former head of the Queensland, Australia, biosecurity programme stated.

An essential part of that education process is with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). Thus, a meeting with them – with many of those in the April 10 delegation potentially attending again as well – has been scheduled for May 1.

That will help form next steps in NZBI’s attempts at industry unification, while the concept of a centralised, national group – made up of nominees from the existing beekeeping groups – was also floated.

That model would seemingly be a continuation of some ‘old ways’ and existing structures. Could it also provide the framework to draw in the new membership desperately needed? Doing so has proven difficult and it was fitting that perhaps the youngest member of the three-hour meeting, Kidd, explained how hosting events without an agenda, “other than trying to foster a sense of community”, has allowed them to do just that in Northland. It’s been based around their honey extraction services, but with help from industry suppliers and honey buyers.

“It has taken 15 years, but there is a sense of community up here. It’s been a hard slog, but it’s nice to have support come from those who are seen to have the money – the honey buyers and suppliers. I know that – regarding the money – is not necessarily true, but they are all willing to contribute when asked,” Kidd said.

The hard slog to beekeeper unity and industry contribution on a national scale continues, but the need for a framework that appeals to the new generation of Kiwi beekeeper – and can put them in leadership positions – was not only recognised as needed by those in the roundtable meeting, but played out.

“Sorry I have had to get two of my daughters to get me up to speed here,” explained Lawlor as he joined late via video link. To that, a reply of “I feel your pain” was conveyed by more than one ‘experienced’ beekeeper around the table in Wellington.