Three types of honey seem to be available in the UK . Supermarket honeythat runs in two qualities .... dubious multi florals and expensive Manuka. And the price ... the cheap and cheerfull CoOp retails at £2.00 for a 454gm pot . Rowse's 100mgo Manuka sells for $10.50 for 225 gm. It's cold in the Coop store and interestingly the honey has'nt granulated. Just saying! The third type of honey is produced by local beekeepers, typically with 10 or 12 hive operations producing about 200 225 gm jars annually, that sell anywhere from £5 to £9 a pot. It is not creamed and generally very runny.Ok .... so I had a dream. Sort of ..... but as the miles tick away on the bike, the thought process evolves, right ? . I remember a TV ad that used to run at the beginning of the winter. It was put out by the Queensland Tourism people and featured a bikini Babe on the beach saying to us " Where the bloody hell are yah...?" And along a similar line, my question to Kiwi beekeepers is " where the bloody hell are yah...?".
I see opportunity here..... NZ and the UK now have a tariff free border. The new government is desperate to jumpstart the economy with a 40 billion pound budget and initiatives... there empty warehouses here for Africa and people galore to pack and eat the stuff ...not to mention delivery vans a dozen running around satiating the populations love of internet shopping.
Perhaps it's time to revisit Bruce Clowe's idea of rallying the tribes and presenting a uniform product to the market, packaged where the market is, marketed online, buy five, get one free, next day delivery . A united industry led intiative so that those beekeepers who are left can actually reap a reward from their passion and labours.
So, in the words of that Babe on the beach ..... 'where the bloody hell are yah ..?'