Just out of interest did their extensive consultation include anyone on the forum . It certainly didn't include all their members as I am one and don't recall any consultation.
Gino is right in that it seems to totally ignore pollination whereas the reality is far as New Zealand's economy is concerned is that honey is a relatively unimportant byproduct compared to the value of pollination and in many areas the vital pollination of clover has been seriously compromised by existing beekeepers being driven out of business by corporate type manuka producers flooding their areas with huge numbers of hives and making honey production non-viable and yet when hives are needed to pollinate the clover they are not there. As for doubling the value I find it hard to see how something that is already overhyped, overpriced and oversupplied is going to do anything but decrease in price. That is a market reality.
Initially getting good money for manuka was a godsend to New Zealand beekeepers but in the end it led to huge problems not the least of which is the total fragmentation of the beekeeping industry and the lack of trust and animosity between beekeepers that is now the norm.
In the last few years I have seen a mellowing of some of the problems and more willingness to cooperate but I can't see this doing anything but make things worse again.
i agree a fair bit of that.
"2030 goal
To double NZ honey export value, increase consumer engagement with mānuka
honey, and New Zealand’s honey reputation* by 2030."
i think thats barking up the wrong tree to start with. everyone around the world knows nz manuka. increasing engagement is not required. getting out there and selling it is a different story.
also focusing on only one product smacks of the honey board era and has always been a failure point for any industry.
something i mentioned to one of our big overseas buyers, we have a wide range of the worlds best honeys that we should be pushing, not just manuka.
however having a united industry is long overdue and is mandatory for going forward. we run a very large risk of sliding back into a poor mans industry.
so we kinda need to be like the old hone6y board, but without all the failings.
having a PMP for varroa is not a bad idea. its a big cost, cost to production and we could do with extra rules like not letting hives die from varroa and causing issues to everyone else. it should be easy enough to bundle that with the AFB PMP. it could well improve nz bee health.
making local honey production use the same rules as the export is a way of dealing with the grey export problems. help stop fraudulent honey sales to tourists. however a lot of small producers will be very upset.
the big thing is being able to fund research. we are never going to get better if we don't improve and we have a long bad history of almost no one wanting to do the research, then jumping on the bandwagon after someone has done it.
we need to be far more proactive in making new markets, new products and ways to improve beekeeping.
unfortunately us kiwis have a history of "minimal expenditure but minimal income". for eg its in the media at the moment with all the infrastructure costs while most kiwis have had it easy not paying tax/rates/levies over the decades, and now it biting us in the rear.
it seams many beeks have the same mentality, don't want to pay anything and therefore miss out on making the money.
time we stood on our own two feet.
