Where Can Beekeepers Get Together this Winter?

Where once a multi-day national conference was a staple of the beekeeping calendar in New Zealand, Apiculture New Zealand (ApiNZ) hosted only a reduced ‘Summit Day’ last winter and the industry-good group have nothing on the calendar yet this beekeeping off-season. There are other events planned though. So, with most beekeeper’s workloads reducing as the days shorten, we take a look at the opportunities they will have to cluster this winter.

While Wellington is shaping as a venue for a couple of key gatherings, it is further north in the kiwifruit-orchard-laden Bay of Plenty where significant get-togethers of the apiculture industry will take place, in June and July. With pollination contracts offering increasingly important returns to beekeepers while mānuka honey prices remain in the doldrums, it seems fitting that the small town of Paengaroa, surrounded as it is in orchards of green and gold, will be the venue for two beekeeping gatherings.

The town hall has been the site of open days by local honey processing, storage and sales facility Mānuka Orchard for the past six winters. Previously invite-only affairs for clients of the facility, this July owners Logan and Tania Bowyer are throwing the hall doors open on July 25 in an effort to support all beekeepers and offer a social occasion for many.

“We usually get almost 100 people come along to our Open Days, and we fill out the schedule with a range of speakers with expertise on the honey markets, science and research, pollination and, of course, an update on progress at Mānuka Orchard,” Logan Bowyer says.

“This year we will still have all of that, but we want to open it up a bit more and let the beekeepers themselves help each other. To do that, the more who come along the better. Mānuka Orchard has always prided itself on providing a service to help beekeepers’ honey reach the highest standard possible, now we want to provide a day where all beekeepers can perhaps pick up a thing or two to improve their businesses and their beekeeping too.”

To facilitate that a ‘beekeeping business models that work’ open discussion will take place, while lunch and drinks will also be provided to help stimulate discussion.

“Beekeepers can contribute as much or as little to the discussion as they feel comfortable, but being in the kiwifruit heartland and operating a honey storage facility, we see all sorts of beekeeping businesses in our area. Some are turning a profit, some are really struggling, but we think an event like this is not only a great social opportunity at a quiet time of the year, but an opportunity to have a really fruitful talk as a group,” Bowyer says.

With event planning ongoing, Bowyer says any beekeepers who wish to stay updated on the event should email thehive@manukaorchard.com.

Around 30 attendees made it to the May 10 get-together in Gisborne hosted by the ApiNZ Tairāwhiti Hub, listening in to talks on AFB incidence, the state of the honey markets, and varroa control methods.

NZBI to Kick-off in Paengaroa

The very same hall in Paengaroa, on June 6, is to be the site of the first of what industry group New Zealand Beekeeping Inc (NZBI) hope will be several localised get-togethers they host this winter.

Beyond that, no dates have been set as the group has been focused on a series of “roundtable” meetings with beekeepers and industry leaders to flesh out a model for greater beekeeper representation at a national level.

“We decided that, having hosted these roundtable meetings, we need to carry on and do some more regional field days … we are thinking it will be a full winter calendar,” president Jane Lorimer says.

Last winter NZBI hosted six such get togethers for beekeepers, three in the South Island and three in the North.

“We will probably target a few of the districts we didn’t get to last winter, so that everyone will have had an opportunity to get in and have a discussion. We are yet to discuss it in depth at the moment though. It is a work in progress,” Lorimer says.

ApiNZ Still Pondering AGM Date

One get-together which has the potential to draw beekeepers from different parts of the country to one area is an expected ‘in-person’ Annual General Meeting of ApiNZ. There, the board is expected to propose either dissolution – again – or a survival plan. The location is likely to be Wellington, but neither venue nor date has been set. The group’s constitution states the AGM must be held within four months of the March 31 end of financial year though, meaning July looms likely and it will certainly be no later.

Science Symposium Back for 6th Iteration

After initially hoping to coincide the increasingly-popular New Zealand Honey Bee Research Symposium around the ApiNZ AGM, organisers have now decided to separate the two with a tentative date of Thursday August 28 set. Victoria University of Wellington would be the venue, and the organising committee can now move into calling for abstracts from those wishing to present their work.

Previous Symposiums have seen around 20 scientists and researchers update around 100 attendees from across the beekeeping industry on their latest work, from novel varroa control methods, to the latest in honey research and pollination.

What About the South?

With ApiNZ’s national conference frequently being held in the North Island – where around two thirds of registered honey bee colonies reside – the Canterbury Hub usually holds a smaller get-together closer to home. This winter they hope to host a similar event to that of last year, right down to the same venue – the Ashburton Hotel.

Organisers are yet to nail down the exact date, but sometime in July is preferred.

One in the Books

In the absence of a multi-day event which draws in beekeepers from all over the country, it is more localised events which will litter the calendar. One such group that has already got the ball rolling this winter is the Tairāwhiti Hub of ApiNZ where organisers Barry Foster, John Mackay and Steve Jackson put together a full-day programme of events on May 10.

Approximately 30 people gathered at Eastern Institute of Technology polytech in Gisborne, where the American foulbrood (AFB) status of the region was a key topic, with AFB Management Agency general manager Niha Long and norther operations manager Dwayne Hill in attendance.

An essential part of beekeeping get-togethers seems to be the food and drink, and ApiNZ’s Tairāwhiti Hub took to over catering for their event on May 10, keeping the punters happy.

“It was gratifying to hear that the incidence of AFB in Gisborne remained low and while the levels had increased in 2025, it was to the extent of a single beekeeper finding and destroying their backyard hives,” Mackay says.

Long updated the room on the Agency’s new commercial beekeeper training programme, to some immediate interest from beekeepers present.

The Mānuka Collective chief executive Sean Goodwin spoke and identified that there is likely a lot of mānuka honey still stored in sheds around New Zealand. Having recently returned from India, he also indicated the potential of that market should honey benefit in a trade agreement which the New Zealand government is striving for.

With food and drink on offer, there was lively discussion away from the microphone too, with Mackay saying the topic of ‘how can we compete collaboratively’ returned “no immediate answers, but with plenty of good humour in the room, it bodes well for future efforts”.