14 December 2023 Wet weather killed 2023 honey production, better prospects for this season The impact of wet and wild weather last summer on the 2023 honey production season was confirmed today with the publication of the annual MPI Apiculture Monitoring Data. The reported data shows the total annual honey production reached only 12,000 [...]
30 August 2023 Bee Aware Month launched by Associate Minister for Agriculture Jo Luxton at Te Aro School Associate Agriculture Minister, Hon Jo Luxton, has officially launched Bee Aware Month 2023, an annual nation-wide celebration of bees and their importance to our ecosystem, food chain and economy. Minister Luxton inspected the Te Aro School [...]
29 August 2022 Bee curious this September for Bee Aware Month. Beekeepers are calling on bee-lovers across New Zealand to learn more about bees and what actions they can take to support the health and resilience of Kiwi bee populations this Bee Aware Month. Apiculture NZ CEO Karin Kos says, “Honey bees are critically [...]
Charlotte Haskell, beekeeper apprentice, Central Otago ApiNZ Apprenticeship in Apiculture How did you get started in beekeeping? It was actually because of Covid. I was working in HR with a merino company in Wanaka, and I was made redundant along with 15 others. I was thinking about studying at a local beekeeping [...]
Sam Lawrence, beekeeper apprentice, Marlborough region ApiNZ Apprenticeship in Apiculture How did you get started in beekeeping? I grew up on a farm in the Waihopai Valley and we used to have wild bees on my dad's property when I was a kid. There were quite a lot of beekeepers around too. [...]
Avalon Intermediate School has won first place in the Bee Aware Month Primary Schools’ Video Competition, with their bee-inspired music video “Heart and Soul”. The Bee Aware Month Schools’ competition is held annually as part of Bee Aware Month, a nation-wide educational campaign co-ordinated by Apiculture New Zealand (ApiNZ). Bee Aware Month is held [...]
Rob and Lohnet Murray are the owner/operators of Tai Tokerau Honey in Northland. How long have you been keeping bees? Our company, Tai Tokerau Honey Ltd, has been incorporated since 2009, but Rob was working for a large commercial company for a few years before that. I am a registered primary school teacher but [...]
Agriculture Minister, Hon Damien O’Connor, has officially launched the 10th annual Bee Aware Month, a nation-wide celebration of bees and their importance to our ecosystem, food chain and economy. Minister O’Connor inspected the Prime Minister’s beehives based at Premier House in Wellington this afternoon to mark the beginning of Bee Aware Month. He told [...]
Ben and Leah Mee are the owner/operators of Southern Alps Honey in Canterbury. What got you started in beekeeping? Ben has always had an interest in bees and their honey. As a child, he would kick the honey supers off the top of the hives that were on his parents’ farm and help himself [...]
Pictured standing left to right: Issac Holback, Gus Vautier, Nico Buda, Esme Hollings, Saffanah Rahman and seated Sterling Williamson Year 5 and 6 students at Te Aro School look after the school’s two hives. The students look after the bees and help with extraction and honey making. Last year they harvested 60kg of honey [...]