Beekeeping News
A curated selection of worldwide feeds related around the topic of beekeeping and honeybees.
Honey and Bees New Zealand’s (HBNZ) first five weeks of existence have proven active, with a new seven-person board room and chairperson now at the helm overseeing a back-to-basics management team. They have signalled an early win too, with the announcement of plans for a July 15-16 conference in Na…
The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) has notified Mānuka Charitable Trust that its mānuka trademark design “is likely to offend Māori” because it resembles a moko kauae — the traditional Māori tattoo worn by women on their chin.
It’s been in the wings for at least five months as the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has worked behind the scenes meeting with various beekeeping industry groups and stakeholders, and on September 10 the “New Zealand Honey and Bee Alliance” will take flight with an inaugural hui in Wellingto…
Comvita returned to profitability in the year to June through volume growth in mānuka shipments to the US and rigorous cost cutting. Chief executive officer Karl Gradon has deferred issuing earnings guidance and confirmed that Comvita will not pay a dividend for the current year.
Egmont Honey chief executive James Annabell has returned from a recent sales trip to the UAE and Europe buoyed by continuing strong demand for mānuka honey, but with a warning for the New Zealand honey industry that there are signals another boom-bust cycle could be approaching.
Passionate kānuka honey advocate Sri Govindaraju attended the inaugural Kānuka Industry Hui, hosted by the Kānuka Charitable Trust (KCT), August 17-18 in Rotorua. She reflects on what was discussed, the great opportunity facing kānuka honey and oil, plus the collective action which will be required …
While much of New Zealand's beekeeping industry has spent recent years tightening belts and riding out uncertainty, Marlborough-Tasman beekeepers Matt and Sarah Goldsworthy have been doing the opposite – they’ve expanded, backing themselves and the industry all the way.
Trying to decide on the best honey testing lab to support your business? Hill Labs explains how their expertise and customer service leads the way in the honey industry, built on a proud foundation of Kiwi, family ownership and management.
Worried by recent controversial, and catastrophic, failures of the public service, former top bureaucrat Ian Fletcher analyses the occurrences, sets out the lessons that need to be learned, and identifies what could be done if we want to achieve greater accountability from our leaders.
What do spring rounds look like in the Bay of Plenty? Aimz reports in as she begins her third full season wielding the hive tool in the family business.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has sounded the death knell over New Zealand’s second attempt to secure a mānuka certification trademark in New Zealand’s largest honey market.
New commercial-beekeeping industry group Honey and Bees New Zealand (H&BNZ) has an inaugural board and chairperson, Murray Bush, who says the serious business of rebuilding trust among beekeepers begins now. Beekeepers must return that trust though he emphasises, and support he group if it is to…
Creditors have tipped Brown family companies Springbank Honey Ltd and Glenburn Green Ltd, both of North Canterbury, into receivership. Debts include more than two million dollars outstanding to beekeepers for honey. The list of those waiting to be paid is long but asset sales may be complicated by p…
While many around New Zealand beekeeping circles have viewed the news of Springbank Honey’s forced receivership (as detailed in Springbank Honey Forced to Receivership, Beekeepers Owed Millions) with a “good riddance” response, for some it is not as simple as that. At least six beekeeping or honey b…
At Mānuka Orchard’s annual Open Day for 2026, July 24 in Paengaroa, Bay of Plenty, the do-it-all honey facility unveiled their vision for the future of the mānuka honey industry. Dubbed ‘Project 2030’, it seeks to marry new-found optimism in honey markets with the organisation required to better mat…
After a highly eventful six years on first the board of the American Foulbrood (AFB) Management Agency and then seeing through its transition to the New Zealand Bee Health and Biosecurity Trust (NZBB) as chairperson, Mark Dingle recently departed the seat, replaced by Simon Cook. He reflects on a mu…
Takeaways from Mānuka Orchard Open Day 2026 It’s become a staple on the honey industry’s calendar and in 2026 Mānuka Orchard’s annual Open Day on July 24, was bigger than ever, with nearly 200 attendees filing into the Paengaroa Community Hall where a range of speakers and trade displays greeted the…
Some honey industry observers appear to believe that the mānuka boom was an historical event. Recent trade data don’t support that conclusion. Non-traditional markets such as Saudi Arabia and South Korea have rocketed to top-10 status by value. Elsewhere, the dark horse of Romania is in the ascendan…
It’s fast getting to that time of year again, when hives are being opened for the first time coming out of winter – a winter featuring New Zealand’s warmest June on record. Many beekeeping tasks await in the next few months, but prime among them is ensuring the queen at the heart of each colony is f…
While yellow-legged hornets have disappeared from sight for winter, New Zealand's response isn’t over yet. Biosecurity New Zealand and the bee sector are now turning their attention to keeping awareness alive, launching a proposed Hornet Champions network to help ensure vigilance doesn't fade before…
General manager of leading supply company to beekeepers, New Zealand Beeswax, Nick Taylor recently sat down with Apiarist’s Advocate editor Patrick Dawkins as the first-ever in-person guest on the Apiarist’s Advocate Pod podcast. Topics discussed were as diverse as bee gut health, varroa control met…
Soon the beekeeping truck will be clocking up scores of hours every week in the Bay of Plenty, in the meantime Aimz goes right back to the start, reflecting on a lifetime of adventure and misadventure of a family hitting (sometimes literally) the highways and by-ways of life and beekeeping.
Blanche Murray is the founder and director of Kai Ora Honey, a beekeeping and honey exporting business based in Awanui in the far North, and a director to Te Pitau Ltd, the operating arm of the Mānuka Charitable Trust. With a free trade agreement (FTA) with India signed and soon to be in force, she …
Jason Price discusses his journey to register his home kitchen as well as the privacy aspect of this.
Hanging over the head of all New Zealanders is the unavoidable fact that we have an ageing population forcing rising superannuation costs. So why are so many politicians ignoring it? Ian Fletcher sets the table for a much-needed “mature” discussion.
Who is on the ticket to earn a seat at the inaugural Honey and Bees New Zealand board table? We meet the contenders and explore their qualifications...
Who is on the ticket to earn a seat at the inaugural Honey and Bees New Zealand board table? We meet the contenders and explore their qualifications...
A new day for beekeeper representation in New Zealand has dawned with Honey and Bees NZ (H&BNZ) having called for both new members and nominations for directors of the successor organisation to Apiculture New Zealand (ApiNZ), as efforts to amalgamate New Zealand Beekeeping Inc (NZBI) continue.
Beekeepers are renowned for their gusto for a winter conference, and this off-season Mānuka Orchard’s Open Day on July 24 will again be their best bet, with the Bay of Plenty honey processing and storage facility inviting the beekeeping industry to the free event.
While still short on details publicly, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is continuing to work behind the scenes to bring about an apicultural roundtable tentatively titled ‘New Zealand Honey and Bee Alliance’, “to assist the sector in building resilience, profitability and success”.