Beekeeping News

New Zealand’s long-awaited changes to the National American Foulbrood (AFB) Pest Management Plan are moving towards implementation, with proposed measures including greater transparency of honey test results, compulsory employee training, and stronger compliance tools.

One of the country’s largest honey exporters recently became the country’s largest beekeeping entity as Egmont Honey acquired much of the in-Receivership Tweeddale’s Honey of Taihape. It takes their hive holding from approximately 5000 to around 22,000 and the chief executive says they expect to onl…

Evidence submitted by Mānuka Charitable Trust (MCT) to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in the mānuka honey certification trademark case contains promotional website texts that propagate common fictions and have been flagged as generated by artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence... "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"...

Moves are underway to bring the beekeeping clubs of New Zealand together into a national organisation that could provide a better avenue for reaching many of the country’s 7000 hobbyist beekeepers, and create strength in numbers for bee clubs. Led by Auckland Beekeepers Club president Ken Brown, a g…

Just over two months from its launch, Honey and Bees New Zealand (HBNZ) is calling on beekeepers, whether they are members or not, to let their opinions be heard and help shape the new commercial-beekeeper-centric group.

With no new yellow-legged hornet detections since April, Biosecurity New Zealand is stepping up surveillance this spring as the risk of surviving queens emerging from winter increases. Trapping continues, new tracking technology is being introduced, and scientists are trialling freshwater eDNA testi…

On September 10, after five months of planning, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI)-led “Bee Alliance” gathered in Wellington for the first time, bringing together representative groups from most corners of apiculture and even some growers.

In our September edition, we carried a report on the Kānuka Industry Hui held in Rotorua 17-18 August, Kānuka Honey: Time to Stand on Its Own. It was “unmistakable”, the report said, that the “market opportunity” for kānuka honey and kānuka oil was “already there”. Bruce Roscoe discusses “market opp…

Last month New Zealand Manuka Group published something not seen for many years in the New Zealand honey industry, a honey pricing schedule titled “Bee Up Front”. Now chief executive Phil Caskey expands on his and the company’s philosophy and vision for the industry where the UMF brand is better har…

Combining advanced manufacturing capability, rigorous quality standards and a strong commitment to sustainability, Stowers and Pact Group delivers packaging solutions that support local and export honey applications.

Hobby beekeepers lose a disproportionate rate of colonies over winter, compared to commercial operators, the NZ Colony Loss Survey has long told us. However, that same survey shows there are some simple actions hobby beekeepers can take to help improve the chances of colony survival, explains depart…

Last year Aimz rocked into her beekeeping work in October and now, with expert timing, she’s at it again, bopping away in the Bay of Plenty… It’s the end of the world as we know it – and I feel fine. With pollination just a shot away, it’s time to rock around the clock. For what it’s worth, welcome …

Last month vastly-experienced top bureaucrat Ian Fletcher took aim at Accountability in the Public Sector. This month that thought process continues with a diagnosis of the public sector’s overriding ills and a cure that might compromise some political neutrality amongst sector leaders, but will rai…

Springbank Honey’s assets will soon be for sale. A recent receivers report into the controversial and embattled beekeeping and honey trading business describes ‘discrepancies’ in asset records and incomplete information provided by the Canterbury company, which is also now the subject of liquidation…

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…