ApiNZ and Japan

Welcome to NZ Beekeepers+
Would you like to join the rest of our members? Feel free to sign up today.
Sign up
5,764
6,323
canterbury
Experience
Commercial
Well ..... it's been a long day and I'm about done for the season pointing my bum to the sun .... tomorrow we have an RMP so tonight I sought counsel with the Doctor .....
Beekeeping is all about being in the right place at the right time so your bees do what they are supposed to do ..... make honey.

This morning I got lassoed into the office and told to sort out the Hive Hub with where we put what over the summer so that it all gels tomorrow when the RMP man asks what drum came from where.

So while minimum wage Bee man was figuring out how to stack pallets of boxes on the truck and rack em down so they did'nt come off on the big hill through the pines ..... I wrestled with the computer.

The new Hivehub system worked well, to give them their due.... but I hate sitting in the office .... it seems like such a freaking waste of time and is totally unproductive, and I had this thought that how many unproductive people are out there looking productive sitting at their computers, all week long ? I don't think we'll even go there tonight.
You only got to look at the shemaozzle with all that rejected Glyphoste honey in Japan.
If the computers and traceability had worked, the honey would never have been sent to Japan in the first place .....

Which brings me back to thread in question .....

Where was APINZ ..... sitting on their computers I suppose.
 
349
449
Bay of Plenty
Experience
Commercial
Where was APINZ ..... sitting on their computers I suppose.
APINZ did not impose a ban on any honey James. some of that honey was in transit while the ban came into force, and APINZ along with MPI have been/are in discussions with Japans MPI equivalent. But Japan can impose their own import standards at anytime without warning, as can NZ, (today NZ just banned live cattle exports) can certainly have a dialogue with them which we have been doing, a change may or not happen, but rest assure APINZ is not playing on computers.
 
5,764
6,323
canterbury
Experience
Commercial
Well ..... It always seems that when you look back over time at all the organisatuions and their aspirations..... a lot more is said than done than what was actually achieved for the the greater good .....which I guess is why we prefer to live up beyond the black stump and look out for number one.
We pay the agency levy ..... to monitor and correlate the spread of AFB , but it does'nt really contribute to eradication . Why do it?
We pay the fee to Asure Quality to give us the tick to sell honey .... but it's hard work to sell the stuff and a tick from the team at Asure is no given to making a dollar ..... the buyer certainly does'nt give a Rats A ..... about whether Asure Q gave us the tick ... except that the container cant go on the boat without the processing fee .....

Sometimes I wonder if we have'nt become a society that just sits back and likes to be controlled and told what to do, and whose gonna pay when someone stuffs up.... rather than controlling our own destiny .
 
5,764
6,323
canterbury
Experience
Commercial
And If APINZ were so in touch and concerned about the bee keepers livelihoods ... were there memorandums sent out to inform about low tolerance levels in Japan .... and perhaps double check and test before you send .....
Particularly when when one of those shipments came from a company whose head honcho was a flyer in APINZ.

Don't get me wrong, I lke the idea of APINZ, but they need to put their money where their mouth is, and perhaps spend a bit more time on the computer. !
 
1,311
1,791
North Canterbury
Experience
Commercial
And If APINZ were so in touch and concerned about the bee keepers livelihoods ... were there memorandums sent out to inform about low tolerance levels in Japan .... and perhaps double check and test before you send .....
Particularly when when one of those shipments came from a company whose head honcho was a flyer in APINZ.

Don't get me wrong, I lke the idea of APINZ, but they need to put their money where their mouth is, and perhaps spend a bit more time on the computer. !
Short answer is yes they did..
From memory I think the e mail notifying us of the risk with Japan asked if you had honey currently on the water so to speak please do not have it unloaded and send it straight back.. I recall having a laugh at how tricky that might actually be to put into play..
 

tommy dave

Gold
BOP Club
230
263
mostly wellington, sometimes dunedin
Experience
Hobbyist
Short answer is yes they did..
From memory I think the e mail notifying us of the risk with Japan asked if you had honey currently on the water so to speak please do not have it unloaded and send it straight back.. I recall having a laugh at how tricky that might actually be to put into play..
crazy if they sent that only to members, rather than issuing a press release etc to ensure decent reach.
 
5,764
6,323
canterbury
Experience
Commercial
If the agency wants the industry to embrace it's leadership , it somehow needs to entice us non believers into believing.
A generic heads up on potential issues might be a starter, rather than issuing statements after the horse has bolted.

So, what is the APINZ take on this mass bee die off ??
 
  • Like
Reactions: tommy dave
349
449
Bay of Plenty
Experience
Commercial
mass bee die off ?
What massive bee die off, I have heard of some varroa issues, I have heard from people who have heard of some varroa issues, I have not spoken to anyone who has had varroa issues, and I've been ringing around, so what have you heard. Is that the massive bee die off you are talking about?
 
Last edited:
270
317
Gisborne Tairawhiti
Experience
Researcher
If the agency wants the industry to embrace it's leadership , it somehow needs to entice us non believers into believing.
James, to be fair I think you've been saying this for a few years and with every ApiNZ comment or newspiece, there's always 'one more thing ApiNZ could do'. To me, its either join for a year and ask away and ring Karin at ApiNZ (the CEO) each week for updates . . . or its freeloading
 
349
449
Bay of Plenty
Experience
Commercial
John B's Varroa resistance disaster .
Have spent the day chatting to Eckrotek, NZBeeswax and other beekeepers, about this issue. The same cry goes out every couple of years that the sky is falling and we want someone to blame. One thing we know is that there are a lot more hives around in certain areas so more room for reinvasion contamination etc. Both suppliers on average have not heard anymore questions on their products than what they normally get in any given year, which isn't a lot. What we know is that there is often different areas that may show more problems than others, and those areas may change from year to year.
I suspect/have seen, that the varroa landscape is/has/will always be shifting, in regards to how little infestation either self inflicted or from outside the hive is needed to cause damage to a hive. Beeks will have to learn about their apiaries as to how to use what type of treatment and when to best affect. If you are not monitoring and knowing at each step what varroa levels you have in your hive you are treating blind.
There is no doubt that more hives will be having an impact, so will moving hives 2-3 times chasing different honey flows, pollination etc.
But the bigger affect I believe is beekeeper management, not treating because of money, timing, slackness, lack of staff, lack of knowledge of varroa levels, not having a plan of managing and checking hives, the list can go on. Why does the majority of beeks using any given product have no problem with that product but a few do??? What's going on??? Some years there is more varroa about than others, are beeks changing their treatments to take that in to account.
Kiwifruit Pollination was linked to this problem, well over a hundred thousand hives come into kiwi pollination, and if there was a problem arising from that I would suspect there would be a lot of noise from not only the Hawks Bay area but over the most of the north island. Which there isn't/hasn't been, not saying that it doesn't have an impact, but not the "smoking Gun".
We as beeks don't change our practices until we have to, and sometimes things can creep up on us and kiss us in the butt, and we go looking for some reason/person/product to blame.
I don't know the companies that may be affected or their practices, but if you are having issues go talk to the suppliers, they to want to make sure their products are working. Both companies would welcome the chat.
 
5,764
6,323
canterbury
Experience
Commercial
Short answer is yes they did..
From memory I think the e mail notifying us of the risk with Japan asked if you had honey currently on the water so to speak please do not have it unloaded and send it straight back.. I recall having a laugh at how tricky that might actually be to put into play..
I have to wonder ..... did guys high up in Gvt have an inkling of what was in the offing several months ago, or did the Japs just get up one morning three weeks ago and say .....Konichiwah, as of today, this the new limit. So sorry.
Put in perspective, I see the live cow export is to be discontinued, in two years time. Plenty of time to get our heads around that one eh !
 
  • Like
Reactions: Manz
5,764
6,323
canterbury
Experience
Commercial
James, to be fair I think you've been saying this for a few years and with every ApiNZ comment or newspiece, there's always 'one more thing ApiNZ could do'. To me, its either join for a year and ask away and ring Karin at ApiNZ (the CEO) each week for updates . . . or its freeloading
With all due respect ..... if the varroa issue is not just gossip , then as the industry leader, APINZ should be swinging in to action to advise it's stakeholders, which by the route of Chinese Whispers means I should see it shortly on TV One news, or read about it here .
 
349
449
Bay of Plenty
Experience
Commercial
With all due respect ..... if the varroa issue is not just gossip , then as the industry leader, APINZ should be swinging in to action to advise it's stakeholders, which by the route of Chinese Whispers means I should see it shortly on TV One news, or read about it here .
With all due respect, this is like a water bed, push in one spot and the other goes up. I know 4 different beekeepers in the BOP and Waikato that have all lost huge numbers of hives, but they all have lost them in different years in the last 4. a couple up to 50% losses the others 30%+ish . Each blaming the strips at the time, they all back to using the same strips they cursed, but had a break for a season.
The problem is that one beekeeper can have an issue with a treatment for what ever reason, and they may have mites resistant to their treatment but not other beekeepers around them. The trouble is we all use different varroa management treatments at different times. We should have done what they used to do with brucellosis (not sure of spelling) in cattle where everyone had to treat at the same time in a given area.
So if only a few beeks have an issue with strips, is it a strip issue or a management issue, a major issue, or???????
 
72
42
Katikati
Experience
Commercial
I think honey was put in the 'other' type food at the Japan end. Sometime ago.
Which so happened to allow very low glyso tolerance compared to other food.
So it became an issue.
 

southbee

Gold
315
264
Southland
Experience
Commercial
With all due respect ..... if the varroa issue is not just gossip , then as the industry leader, APINZ should be swinging in to action to advise it's stakeholders, which by the route of Chinese Whispers means I should see it shortly on TV One news, or read about it here .
With all due respect....why would you wait for any chinese whispers? You've heard about it here, from a rather reliable source I believe, surely you're not the type who needs to be told twice? I do like that opening so....
 

Grant

Staff member
Founder Member
Platinum
10,498
4,941
If the agency wants the industry to embrace it's leadership , it somehow needs to entice us non believers into believing.
So I read this thread and got to this bit and actually said out loud "Jesus Christ, James".
Then came back to it and read it again. I still said Jesus Christ, but for a different reason. :p
But then, just like ApiNZ, he got crucified too. o_O
What is it about the NZ psyche that the small operators have to hate on the larger operators?
Its just like the "we're the very best at everything" attitude, until it goes wrong or breaks, then you resort to getting a foreign specialist in to fix it, because there's no one in NZ to do the job. From an outsiders perspective non of this he said/she said makes any productive sense.
To me the industry appears completely fractured. It's almost like it needs to implode to be able to start again. A bit like a crappy soccer team that needs to get relegated so it can clear out the dead wood and start again. Now you've got me calling it soccer FGS, ......FOOTBALL.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NickWallingford
270
317
Gisborne Tairawhiti
Experience
Researcher
I think you need new emojis under 'like' there @Grant . Something like
👋 or 🚛
to show 'handout' or 'freeload' ? Are there better options??
What is it about the NZ psyche that the small operators have to hate on the larger operators?
It's called tall poppy syndrome and it . . .oh, sorry, rhetorical question.
But jokes aside then the behaviour of some corporate beekeepers seems less than reasonable. I wonder whether the new ApiNZ code of conduct has had any visible effects?
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Grant


Top