APIARIST’S OPINION: COLIN McLEAN
Having come into the industry before the ‘mānuka boom’ one major change has been the growth of a number of corporate style businesses, some of them now foreign owned, who now dominate the mānuka honey export market. It is a significant structural change.
With high prices and high supply everyone was happy, but that has changed and will probably never return to what it was. One thing I'm seeing, for a number of reasons, is the reducing productive capability in the industry – it’s an expensive industry to get into, so the attraction is no longer there.
Corporate style businesses thrive in boom times, but even now with the supply on the high side, they are struggling. So, when that balance changes, will there be the volume to compensate the reduced profitability?
I was a little puzzled that the UMF Honey Association, having been involved in the so-called Industry Strategy, was looking to take a lead and incorporate it under their own umbrella. This is a narrow focus on mānuka honey for export only and it would be hard to see where their interest lies beyond that. Are they trying to achieve a monopoly in determining outcomes and achieving their own goals? Are they prepared to share power?
The UMF logo was gifted to the association for the benefit of all beekeepers not just UMF members, however some of their members may act only out of self-interest rather than the good of everyone else. The risk in developing standards that suit an exporter is that it can compromise a producer, already buyer expectations are lowering the potential value and grade of my honey. Many beekeepers, and some packers, are very wary of power being put into the hands of a few who then seem to decide for themselves how things should be.
The Ministry for Primary Industries’ relationship to the industry is not one of engagement in a democratic way, they have made a number of decisions that reflect this, but governments love export dollars and big exporters use this as leverage to further their own interests.
In my view, the productive base of the industry is facing a decline, if there are 500,000 commercial hives, with one person equivalent of 500 hives (it used to be more), that's only 1000 beekeepers, who are the backbone of the industry. Many are on the wrong side of 60, good labour is almost impossible to find, the challenges are greater than they have ever been and varroa is having a second wave of colony losses – already the impacts are being felt on pollination.
Unless Industry organisations, Government and big players, look seriously at how they are supporting producers then it will contract. The idea of a PMS for varroa is a red herring, a distraction, it will never happen as it won’t work. Some people are focused on "big plans", rather than the nuts and bolts of how things work. What has been lacking for a long time is commercial beekeepers having a deciding role in decisions that affect them.
Integrity and transparency go hand-in-hand and the industry will never be united unless that exists. After all, the authenticity of mānuka honey is based on these principals.
Colin McLean is a beekeeper of 40 years’ experience across Hawke’s Bay and now Great Barrier Island where he owns and manages 450 hives.
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