increase font size
Apiculture NZ chief executive, Karin Kos.
Apiculture NZ is seeking assurances from authorities that the country’s beekeepers won’t be faced with the same problems that their Auckland colleagues did when that region went into lockdown.
Karin Kos, Apiculture NZ chief executive, says beekeepers in the Auckland region thought because they were classed as an essential industry during the first lockdown that they would have no trouble moving through the police checkpoints. However, this wasn’t the case.
Kos says it turned out that they had to apply for special exemptions from the Ministry of Health to get in or out of Auckland and it took about a week for these permits to materialise. She says the Ministry for Primary Industries was very helpful and managed to facilitate the permits.
“But it did take a week and fair amount of work to get the exemption in place,” Kos told Rural News.
“We had beekeepers who had hives over the border and coming out of winter they needed to check that the bees were okay, well fed and ready for the honey season. They weren’t able to get to them.”
Kos says now that they have worked through the process in Auckland, Apiculture NZ hopes that this will mean that in any future lockdowns there won’t be the same hassles.
A big shakeup in the honey sector is about to take place with the news that the industry good body, ApiNZ, and the export focused Unique Manuka Factor Honey Association are looking to merge to form a new industry body.
The agency charged with controlling the serious bee disease American Foul Brood (AFB) has defended itself against criticism from a North Canterbury beekeeper who was recently ordered to destroy equipment following a find of AFB spores in his storage shed.
While confident that the apiculture sector can meet its target of doubling honey exports by 2030, chair of ApicultureNZ, Nathan Guy, says it will be challenging.
Things are looking up for the country's bee industry, following a couple of difficult years.
Beekeepers in parts of the country badly hit by Cyclone Gabrielle and other storms are still struggling to get access to their hives.
OPINION: President Donald Trump's bizarre hard line approach to the world of what was once 'rules-based trade' has got New Zealand government officials, politicians and exporters on tenterhooks.
With wool prices steadily declining and shearing costs on the rise, a Waikato couple began looking for a solution for wool from their 80ha farm.
The Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) team is looking forward to connecting with growers at the upcoming South Island Agricultural Field Days, says HortNZ chief executive Kate Scott.
Choosing pasture seed at bargain prices may seem an attractive way for farmers to reduce autumn or spring re-sowing costs, but it comes with significant risks, says the NZ Plant Breeders and Research Association (PBRA).
A brand-spanking new administration building will greet visitors to this year's South Island Agricultural Field Days (SIAFD) at Kirwee.
2025 marks 120 years of FMG Advice and Insurance in New Zealand's rural communities.
OPINION: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon sometimes can't escape his own corporate instinct for evasion, and in what should have been…
OPINION: Shane 'Matua' Jones, crusader against all things woke, including "woke banks", couldn't have scripted it better when his NZ…
