The 2017/18 honey season was a mixed bag for New Zealand beekeepers with honey volumes and hive yields up by 35 percent and 21 percent respectively over the 2016/17 season, while average honey prices were lower than the previous year for most honey types apart from monofloral mānuka honey, as outlined in this year’s Ministry [...]
Apiculture New Zealand (ApiNZ) says a gradual rise in New Zealand’s bee colony loss rates highlights the need for ongoing attention to bee health issues. “We are concerned to see a gradual rise in the colony loss rates over the past four years, from 9.6% in 2016 to 10.2% in 2018,” says Barry Foster, [...]
Working in apiculture can take a toll physically but also mentally and emotionally, particularly when unpredictable circumstances related to finances, weather conditions and personal issues arise. The recent traumatic events in Christchurch undoubtedly have had an impact on New Zealanders around the country, and it's important to know where you can seek help. If [...]
Commercial beekeepers have voted not to support the introduction of a honey levy with only 23.56% voting for the introduction of a commodity levy. Commenting on the result Bruce Wills, Chair of Apiculture NZ, the industry organisation which led the commodity levy proposal says: “It’s no secret that this is not the outcome I, [...]
Apiculture New Zealand (ApiNZ) is calling on commercial beekeepers to vote for a commodity levy with voting papers going out this month. “We are at a crucial juncture in the history of this industry,” says Bruce Wills, chair of Apiculture New Zealand, the body leading the vote. “We need beekeepers to vote and we [...]
New Zealand’s ongoing interest in bees and honey has seen the number of registered beekeepers continue to rise rapidly in the past few years. As at 30 November 2018, there were 9,173 registered beekeepers in New Zealand, 6,784 of which are considered hobbyists with less than 10 hives. This is a 15% increase of [...]
Apiculture New Zealand (ApiNZ) recently launched a new youth scholarship in beekeeping aimed at encouraging young New Zealanders who wish to take up a career in the industry and undertake training that supports best practice beekeeping. The Ron Mossop Youth Scholarship in Beekeeping is sponsored by Mossop’s Honey based in Tauranga. Ron Mossop was [...]
Poor weather conditions over the 2016/17 honey harvest season were some of the most challenging experienced by New Zealand beekeepers in the last five years, resulting in one of the lowest honey crops since the 2011/12 season. “We are not surprised to see the lower volumes of 14,855 tonnes of honey for the 2016/17 [...]
Photo from Midlands Duncan Storrier is a director at Midlands Holdings. Midlands Apiaries provide between 3,000 and 3,500 beehives for natural and efficient pollination of specialty seed and fruit crops throughout Canterbury. How long have you been keeping bees for? Midlands has been keeping bees for 12 years. Can you tell me a little background [...]
Photo by Liam Clayton Barry Foster is one of the ApiNZ's board members representing the commercial sector and a beekeeper himself. How long have you been keeping bees for? Since the 1970s and on a full time basis since 1984. Can you tell me a little background about yourself, your enterprise and how you [...]