Overview of New Zealand Honey Marketing
Mary Bumby brought two colonies of honeybees to New Zealand in 1839. Other colonies, generally housed in skeps, were imported from England and Australia in later years. In New Zealand the bees were kept in skeps and box hives, and swarming was encouraged. It was not long before feral colonies had moved throughout the country. Hunting out wild hives to take the honey was more common than actual beekeeping in most areas.
It wasn’t until the 1870’s, with the use of a variety of moveable-frame bee hives, combined with the use of wax foundation and rudimentary honey extractors, that beekeeping really began to flourish. The 1880’s saw queens from overseas imported to test them in NZ conditions as a fledgling honey industry was developed. In 1882 Isaac Hopkins established the first commercial apiary “along modern lines” when he took 100 hives by boat to Matamata from his Thames apiary.
In the 1880’s and 1890’s beekeeping businesses were set up throughout the country. Through the same time, however, AFB spread and became a major problem for beekeeping. Much of the honey that was sold was of poor quality, often high moisture, and there was little in the way of marketing beyond local sales that depended on the season for production.
The Apiaries Act 1906 attempted to eliminate the use of any box hives or skeps that did not have moveable frames, as part of the efforts to control AFB. Later legislation placed restrictions on importation of honey bees and used equipment. By 1910 bee hive numbers were on the increase and very soon afterward the amount of honey produced in NZ exceeded the national consumption. Exports were essential to avoid price cutting.
The NZ Co-operative Honey Producers’ Assn (the HPA) was formed to export these surplus quantities of honey. It did that effectively from 1914 to 1932, trading through some financially perilous times. The Honey Export Control Board was set up in the mid-1920’s to ensure quality standards for honey being exported to England. The HPA used a single English agent and was successful in developing a market based on the supply of consistent honey packs to suit the market. NZ honey achieved comparatively good returns for the producers through the time, choosing to sell creamed honey to a retail market, rather than selling in bulk and often liquid as did most other honey producing countries.
Through the same years, the HPA set up a honey depot and plant in Auckland which serviced the industry for many years.
Several abnormally large crops in the late 1920’s sent the HPA into voluntary liquidation. In 1932 a new company, the New Zealand Honey Co. (NZ Honey Co) took over the operations. The directors were, in fact, still many of the same people from the previous marketing body.
Through the last of the HPA liquidation and the beginnings of NZ Honey Co, the Honey Export Control Board evolved from setting export standards to a more involved role, working closely with NZ Honey Co. The board’s chair Jack Butland led the board and the company into a poorly conceived and handled purchase of Australian honey. It resulted in the company going into liquidation and the resignation of the Honey Control Board members.
In 1938 the Government acted, with the Honey Section of the Internal Marketing Division (the IMD) stepping in to continue efforts to both export and provide stability in the local market. The outbreak of the War saw regulations involving conscription of some of the country’s production, and a lot of ill-feeling among beekeepers. Producers saw the need for an organisation to ensure exports and stablise the local market, but were keen to have a return to more producer control of policies.
The Honey Marketing Committee was created in 1948 to provide advice and support for the IMD. Plagued initially by the Government’s poor establishment process, the committee did little to ensure a sense of beekeeper ‘ownership’ of honey marketing.
In line with the first National Government’s direction, the activities of the IMD were given to the Honey Marketing Authority (the HMA) in 1954, but again with a disappointing and poorly executed transition.
The HMA exported honey through a single agent in the U.K. and provided adequate returns for the producers who supplied it. The HMA’s role as the sole exporter of honey was seen as necessary, but was one of the factors that led to its disestablishment 20 years later in 1980.
When the HMA was dismantled, it was felt that the entire industry had contributed to the HMA’s assets in a variety of ways. The Honey Industry Trusts were created to use that money for the future good of the NZ honey industry…