Oh sugar, honey,honey.

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25
43
Nz
Experience
Retired
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...?".
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.
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 ..?'
 

southbee

Gold
326
275
Southland
Experience
Commercial
Well, James can only tell you that for us it's more like.......we're in bloody hell......, the spring has sprung with all the gates on heaven open and all the rivers and creeks flooded and it seems to keep going on and on. With the odd fine day in between, so we keep going! It's always the same story, 50% of the work goes into producing the goods and the other half into selling it, so show me the beekeeper who has so much time to sell his product. Yes, we should have a united initiative, but who's going to pull that off.....to unite the beekeepers??? God is busy making rain on us, so he can't do it, but great to hear from you, hope you're enjoying it over there!
 
8,937
5,370
maungaturoto
Experience
Commercial
the biggest uk seller was over here last season (or season before?). plenty of nz honey already goes over. its all down to how much is sold.
unfortunately there is still some dubious honey sales going on, a few nz beeks suppling those who water down the product.

also had the largest uk bee keeping outfit (or biggest heather operation, i can't quite remember which) over here as well. i missed out on meeting them.

hopefully the trade deal will open a few new doors. i would really like to see our other honeys on the shelves as well.
 


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