John Berry on Apimondia

This year marks John Berry’s 60^th as a beekeeper and, knowing there is still plenty for him to learn, for the first time the Hawke’s Bay lad headed off to the World Beekeeping Congress that is ‘Apimondia’.

By John Berry

A home with a view. It took a funicular railway to pull John Bery this high up the mountain, but this is the permanent home to two beehives in Norway’s second largest city, Bergen.

Hosted by Denmark, but jointly run by Norway and Sweden as well, the main event of Apimondia was in Copenhagen 23-27 September. However, my learning started with a pre-tour bus trip beginning in Bergen, Norway’s second largest city.

There was a re-jigging of tour plans as the awful weather for which Bergen is renowned rolled in, so first up we enjoyed an illustrated talk on beekeeping in the local area. Pollination of mainly apples, and some cherries, is an important source of income early in the season, followed by most of the hives being moved away from the coastal rain belt.

Once the weather cleared, a bit, we went up the funicular railway where we saw two hives perched on the side of a mountain followed by my first taste of halibut. Our next stop was to learn about the local mellifera mellifera bees, and in this area near Stavanger you are only allowed to keep these bees. It was an interesting talk about the politics and genetics involved, but nothing will ever convince me that these nasty little monsters have any place in modern beekeeping. I have too much history with them.

If I have any complaint about the tour it would be that there was too much travelling and not enough beekeeping for, although the Norwegian countryside is truly stunning, you can only take in so much. Once we got to Denmark we did get to spend a lot more time in different honey houses and apiaries.

John ‘the Drone’ Berry and some “queens" found at Apimondia. “I was enjoying it until one whispered in my ear ‘winter is coming’.”

Throughout the trip we were hosted, and often fed by, local beekeeping groups. Denmark is a lot flatter than Norway and the farms are bigger. However, commercial beekeeping is struggling because of huge imports of cheap and often fake honey.

If anything struck me as being totally different from beekeeping in New Zealand it was when we were taken to a wax rendering plant where we saw beautiful virgin combs put into a steam chest for rendering. The wooden frames themselves are reused after boiling in caustic soda. We used to do this in my youth, but it is a dangerous process. I’m not against a little bit of excitement in my life, but I wouldn’t touch this process with a 40-foot bargepole. The long winters in certain parts of Europe make nosema a pressing concern and the regular wax rotation helps them lower spore counts.

I made a conscious effort to try and move around the bus and sit with different people and ended up making some really good friends which, for me, was the absolute highlight.

Apimondia makes for a great social occasion says John Berry, here making friends with a Hungarian delegation.

Apimondia Itself

Apimondia itself is huge. Endless rows of trade displays and it was difficult to work out which talks to attend because, with at least three different sessions running at the same time, there were so many. Some of the science was way over my head and a lot of it, while interesting, was not all that relevant to practical beekeeping.

I’m sure I missed out on some stuff I should have seen, but you can only take in so much and I spend a lot of time just networking with new and old friends. It’s amazing who you meet at these places, from scientists that have been to New Zealand in the past to old friends like Joe Peeters. There was one person who mistook me for my uncle Russell Berry. I guess I’ll just have to grow my beard even longer!

Sacrilege to Kiwi beekeepers, but at this Danish wax rendering plant virgin beeswax comb is rendered down.

There was no honey competition this year because fake honey has just become so ubiquitous and so difficult to distinguish from the real thing. To somewhat compensate, they had an international honey bar and I got to try some really interesting and often very nice honeys, including some pineapple honey from Fiji. I can only taste so many samples at once, but really enjoyed what was going on there. So I ended up volunteering to help with the New Zealand section.

Questions and talk were constant and it was really amazing to meet so many people from so many different countries. I had already tried some buckwheat honey from the USA and didn’t like it at all, but when I asked someone from Lithuania what I should try on their stand they insisted I should try their buckwheat. Second time around, once you get past the smell (and it is not easy), you really get to taste what they’re talking about.

The closing ceremony may have been a teeny, tiny bit too long, but on the plus side I will be able to use the memory as a soporific for years to come.

A “steam chest” device in Denmark for removing beeswax from frames, before the frames are cleaned in boiling water and caustic soda.

Beehives in Scandinavia during John Berry’s travels.

Buckfast Bees

I finished up with a final, one-day tour to a breeder of Buckfast bees, Keid Branstrup. I have worked with his bees in the past in Devon and know just how good they are. He was a close friend of Brother Adam (aka Karl Kehrle, the Benedictine Monk of Buckfast Abbey in Devon who bred the strain of honeybee named for the Abbey) and an absolutely fascinating talker. I have to admit I don’t completely understand why they are still adding new genetics to this bee and would love to have more time working with him. He would make a really good guest speaker next time we have a conference. 

I made a lot of friends, brought a few widgets, and will have a close look online at a few more now I am home. I don’t think I heard a cross word the whole time I was there and it was wonderful to be amongst people with a shared passion. 

A hive tool for every occasion. A collection spied at Danish beekeeper Flemming Vejsaes’ property

Fake honey seems to be the biggest concern overall and it is certainly causing major financial problems for beekeepers all over the world. Tropilaelaps mites are spreading into Europe at an alarming rate and they make the varroa look like a picnic. Asian Hornets are out of control through much of Europe and are probably the biggest current threat to New Zealand beekeeping. If they get here and we don’t spot them very quickly we will have real problems. We need a publicity campaign starting sometime last year.

From Satire to Magnetise

There was one talk I really regret missing, and only found out about it when I was talking to other people… They say that fact is stranger than fiction and many years ago I wrote an article for an April (1st) New Zealand Beekeeper about how I was putting little metal discs on my queens and then when I wanted to catch them just inserting a magnet into the hive. The idea has now been patented by someone else. Perhaps I should go back to my other April project of breeding my short sting bees before someone else does!

John Berry is a retired commercial beekeeper from the Hawke’s Bay, having obtained his first hive in 1966, before working for family business Arataki Honey and then as owner of Berry Bees. He now keeps “20-something” hives.