What is the difference between Commercial and Market. Kate Kember (MH) and Tony Wright (C)? One listed as Market and one as Commercial, but where is the fundamental difference? How does Peter Luxton fit into any category?
Who's in ApiNZ?
- Thread starter Gino de Graaf
- Start date
OK I want to get this straightened out, and I think it's important for someone to admit if they gave wrong information, which could be me in this case.
So, for those who know. How exactly does the voting system work in APINZ? Who gets how many votes? A full explanation please.
If it turns out Commercial beekeepers carry the majority I will sign up.
So, for those who know. How exactly does the voting system work in APINZ? Who gets how many votes? A full explanation please.
If it turns out Commercial beekeepers carry the majority I will sign up.
Section 12 of the constitution covers it. Current/most recent version available by scrolling to the bottom "about us" here.
Looks like 56% vote for commercial, with some caveats that seem sensible
Alastair
Voting rules changed a couple of years age, But not all commercial seats are held by grass roots commercial beekeepers, which in my mind means the packers still hold the upper hand
Voting rules changed a couple of years age, But not all commercial seats are held by grass roots commercial beekeepers, which in my mind means the packers still hold the upper hand
We have updated our website to include the number of beekeepers we represent: https://apinz.org.nz/about/
You can be a beekeeper without owning hives and you can most certainly own hives without being a beekeeper.
It would be fair to say I am not entirely happy about Apinz's structure but then the old NBA wasn't exactly perfect either and I can think of at least two past presidents that were (I'm trying to think of an appropriate word here but I think bullied comes closest).
I can certainly see the advantages of having everyone concerned with beekeeping under one roof and when it works there are obviously some huge advantages but there have been and will be times when there is a conflict-of-interest between the different parties.
I certainly struggle to see how any of the corporate type beekeepers would do anything to benefit me and beekeepers like me when they have spent years walking roughshod over us without a second thought to how much damage they are doing.
It would be fair to say I am not entirely happy about Apinz's structure but then the old NBA wasn't exactly perfect either and I can think of at least two past presidents that were (I'm trying to think of an appropriate word here but I think bullied comes closest).
I can certainly see the advantages of having everyone concerned with beekeeping under one roof and when it works there are obviously some huge advantages but there have been and will be times when there is a conflict-of-interest between the different parties.
I certainly struggle to see how any of the corporate type beekeepers would do anything to benefit me and beekeepers like me when they have spent years walking roughshod over us without a second thought to how much damage they are doing.
I note that other information is not up to date on the site. I do not believe Peter Luxton is part of the UMFHA anymore?
To clarify. Does this number include beekeepers who are members of clubs that have paid $230 to be affiliated, but might not be members of API NZ themselves?
An easier way to consider this question, does an affiliated club count as one member, or more than one member? The latter would be problematic, e.g overstating membership when a beekeeper is both a direct member of apinz and a member of an affiliated club as this would mean they were double counted
The same point could be made for a commercial. Does that include 1 beekeeping business or its 24 employees that are added to the count?
Both the SNI Bkpg Group and ApiNZ have provided some degree of clarity and transparency relating to membership. It would be nice to see the same from NZ Beekeeping Inc.
To me it's about as clear as mud.
Others seem to have been able to divine from the APINZ web site how voting power is divied up, but I have not been able to decipher it.
As a Commercial beekeeper I want to feel that those who speak to government on my behalf represent commercial beekeepers. Why is there no simple explanation of who votes, how the rank and file vote, etc. As stated I'll support an organisation that supports me.
No landowners seat on the board, but plenty of beekeepers are now landowners
So I went the Apinz website which now mentions in their about page that they are “... representing about 2500 beekeepers...”
It also states there are 9510 registered beekeepers as at September 2020.
It also states there are 9510 registered beekeepers as at September 2020.
It was, that was then this is now. There is plenty of talk on this forum and elsewhere about beekeepers getting together to become packers, or cozy up to a packer or pack and sell our own honey etc, all packer/marketer's jobs, not the beekeeping side.
APINZ was formed to include all those parts because the Beekeeping industry is made up of all those parts, and to grow and be successful we need all them working together.
None of you (apart from hobbyists) spend your working life to full lots of drums with honey and not sell them. When the honey is in the drum that is the end of doing beekeeping work for that honey. It now falls into packing/ selling/ marketing either locally or internationally. As I have said before, there are two people with their hand on a drum of honey, us as beekeepers producing a very fine product the worls wants, and a packer/marketer selling that product to the world, and out of that sale to the mom n pop and family at the end of the food chain, we all get paid.
You and I make no money from beekeeping, I only make money when I hire out by bees or produce a crop that someone wants.
That is true and his place on the APINZ board is up for election this year.
@Dennis Crowley I'm impartial here because I'm no longer a beekeeper, so I do feel able to say that I think you are doing a great job in terms of answering the questions and theories put out about ApiNZ by the beekeepers from around NZ. Of course, there will always be room for improvement, (membership breakdown seems to be the current line) but as with anything constructive feedback can bring change, however slow that may be. But its refreshing to get the other viewpoint on the forum to provide balance to the conversation and I think that can only be a good thing long term for the mutual benefit of everyone.
I think we can see by the poll that @gino de Graaf ran that most people are members of any group at all Bron. But also, the vast majority of those 9,500 beekeepers are hobbiests as well. Interesting that while the hobbiest numbers increased sharply over COVID, the total number of hives has dropped markedly for the first time in years
Well thanks Tommy Dave who sent me a link to their constitution I think he might link it on this thread.
So turns out, in plain English, that when APINZ was set up, commercial beekeepers only had 45% of the vote. That is how I remember it, and was also the cause of many NBA members not signing up, and also led to the formation of the opposition group, which was promoted as "for beekeepers".
However APINZ have now changed this and commercial beekeepers now have a majority of the vote at 56%. A slim majority but a majority. As per some of the previous posts the exact makeup of some of the voters means they could have a vested interest so the slim 56% could in an extreme case still swing the majority away from commercial beekeepers.
But I've decided it's good enough for me. Would prefer better, but it will do I guess, I will sign up.
So turns out, in plain English, that when APINZ was set up, commercial beekeepers only had 45% of the vote. That is how I remember it, and was also the cause of many NBA members not signing up, and also led to the formation of the opposition group, which was promoted as "for beekeepers".
However APINZ have now changed this and commercial beekeepers now have a majority of the vote at 56%. A slim majority but a majority. As per some of the previous posts the exact makeup of some of the voters means they could have a vested interest so the slim 56% could in an extreme case still swing the majority away from commercial beekeepers.
But I've decided it's good enough for me. Would prefer better, but it will do I guess, I will sign up.