‘Next Steps’ – ApiNZ and NZBI Set Out a Collaborative Timeline

There is no guarantee of a solution to keep all parties happy, but leading industry groups Apiculture New Zealand (ApiNZ) and New Zealand Beekeeping Inc (NZBI) have put in writing a timeline to collaborate in an attempt to deliver an improved beekeeping industry body.

Key to the plan is input from a ‘small’, ‘advisory’ group of beekeepers, while a potential sticking point is to what level the export, honey packing and marketing side of the apiculture industry is represented.

NZBI advisor Ian Fletcher and ApiNZ CEO Karin Kos have collaborated to developed a short piece of text titled Next Steps: Industry Body Proposal. It acknowledges that both groups have consulted with beekeepers and wider industry and the result has ‘confirmed a general desire to see a single industry advocacy body for beekeeping in New Zealand, primarily led by commercial beekeepers’ and that the industry wants to move quickly towards this end.

The ‘next steps’ are therefore to draft a foundation document for what that advocacy body might look like. This will be based off the consultation with beekeepers over the winter months, which were organised by ApiNZ, with NZBI participation.

“People want to see a single industry advocacy body and we will do what we can to facilitate that. Let’s bring all the work to the table and go from there,” Kos says.

Karin Kos. The ApiNZ CEO is “cautiously optimistic” that collaboration with fellow industry group NZBI will bear fruit for beekeepers.

That table will be sat around in early October, and within the month they plan to have a draft proposal to run by the advisory group. The makeup of that group is yet to be determined, but Kos says she would like to see some of the younger generation of beekeepers who have attended regional meetings included – “to see if the proposal is going to work for them”.

“It should provide a litmus test and sanity-check,” she adds.

As the calendar turns to November and December the plan is to consult the wider beekeeping industry on the proposal, then adaptions potentially made, and a final draft set out. From there an ‘implementation plan’ leading to widespread approval may take place early in 2026.

A contest of ideas around the inclusion of the export side of the honey industry in the proposed group is what Fletcher describes “a legitimate bit of disagreement that needs to be worked through”.

“The balance of how the organisation is structured, between core commercial beekeepers, and exporters and packers, is the area where there is genuine debate. And it is genuine,” the NZBI advisor says.

ApiNZ, since forming in 2016, has always included a ‘market’ section of their governance board and workplan, alongside beekeepers. NZBI formed subsequently, as a splinter group to represent solely commercial beekeeping interests.

“Our feedback has said all along that people want to see an organisation that represents the whole commercial supply chain,” Kos says of beekeeper meetings this year which began in Christchurch in July, and continued through August and September at six venues in both North and South Islands.

“How that looks and shapes I don’t know yet. We clearly see that commercial beekeepers need to be strong in governance though. The purpose needs to include advocating for beekeeping interest beyond the hive-gate, as well as behind it. Issues like market access, development of standards, those are fundamental to developing financial sustainability. We have got to be able to broaden the organisation.”

Ian Fletcher. The NZBI advisor says the role of the honey export sector in any industry body is a “sticking point” in discussions with ApiNZ.

One solution which appeals to Fletcher, and which was included in a ‘strawman’ constitution he presented ahead of NZBI’s ‘roundtable’ meeting with beekeepers on September 17 (detailed in A Microcosm of Beekeeper Trials and Unrest), is to allow for ‘affiliated’ membership to groups with similarly aligned goals.

“An affiliate model provides the vehicle to which the associated groups connect up,” he says.

“An entity whose core membership is commercial beekeepers, but then non-commercial beekeepers or those involved in export are associated through an affiliation model. That might also include regional groups. Southern North Island Beekeeping Group, for example, not having to give up their autonomy or identity.”

That’s all set to be debated and discussed between ApiNZ and NZBI as the calendar flips to October, with cohesion essential to a productive result. So, is this the great coming together of the two groups and their respective processes which many beekeepers have called for?

“Not quite, but nearly,” says Fletcher, pointing to the “implementation plan” which both groups hope to reach in the new year as the ultimate sign of unity.

From Kos’s perspective there is “cautious optimism” at the approach.

“We have been together at the regional meetings and keep in touch regularly, particularly myself and Ian, and there is a lot of common themes coming through. Now is the time to put all that on the table and see if we can develop a shared approach,” she says.