On June 5 Apiculture New Zealand (ApiNZ) members will be asked to make a crucial decision regarding the industry organisation’s future for the third time in less than 15 months. The choice? Dissolve the group with roots stretching back more than a century, or adopt an entirely new constitution which hands control to commercial-beekeepers, reducing the influence of hobby beekeepers and honey marketers.

While seen as the likely outcome of Apiculture New Zealand’s (ApiNZ) June 5 AGM, transition to, the temporarily named, Honey and Bees NZ is seen by some of the longest serving members of the group as an outcome that will exclude too many otherwise interested parties.

Comvita raised NZD40.5m through the sale of 59.3m new shares in a rights issue and placement that concluded 7 May. The share sale, which increased shares in issue 84.0% to 129.8m, was Comvita’s largest ever. Banks will be paid all sale proceeds as a condition for agreeing new loans.

For over six months, the fight against yellow-legged hornets on Auckland’s North Shore has been one of the most significant biosecurity responses New Zealand beekeepers have ever faced. Now, with no hornets or nests found since early April, many are asking the same question – have we beaten them, or is winter simply hiding them? For Ken Brown, president of the Auckland Beekeepers Club and one of the early responders, the answer is cautious optimism mixed with realism.

Nelson beekeeper Nigel Costley was in the thick of it when Varroa destructor was first identified in the South Island. He describes an exhilarating six months on the front line – a time of steep learning, excitement, disappointment and controversy. But most of all, a camaraderie sometimes scarce in the beekeeping community.

For many New Zealanders, the Gene Technology Bill may sound like a distant scientific or political debate. But for beekeepers, pollinators, and those working closely with the land, the proposed changes raise important long-term questions about the future of our ecosystems, farming systems, and export reputation.

Dnature’s diagnostic and research’s new advertisements almost says it all – “Tired of the ‘yeah-nah-yeah’ AFB results in your honey? Get a real answer with our new AFB ULTRA test before you blend your honey”. We would like to know more about how it works though, so we ask some probing questions to dnature technical director John Mackay to determine how this new test works and why it could save beekeepers and honey traders costly mistakes.

Most beekeepers are well aware of the ‘waggle’ dance, but did you know honey bees also perform ‘round’ dances. Mark Goodwin has studied the behaviour and determined each of the dances has its own occasion, and that understanding the resulting foraging behaviour can help prevent robbing.

Hard to find much to write about, here, I thought – especially in contrast to the recent steep tax-raising budget in Australia. Yet I think there are four interesting points we need to watch...

After first floating the idea publicly two months ago, Ashburton queen breeder Rae Butler now has dates set for seven workshops focusing on how to identify, measure and maintain varroa resistance in honey bees. She explains what will be covered and that there is still plenty of time for new participants to register their interest.

The profession of beekeeping is very old, and the behaviour of bees together with the unique sweetness of their honey fascinated the ancient world. One admirer was the Roman poet Virgil (70-19BC) who wrote a collection of four short poems on farming called the Georgics. CHRIS NORTHCOTT surveys beekeeping from the ancient Roman world as glimpsed in Virgil’s poem, uncovering things that are familiar to apiarists today, as well as things we may find surprising.

As leading beekeeping groups move closer to reshaping into a commercial-beekeeper-centric organisation, the Ministry for Primary Industries is making their own plans, behind the scenes, for a “New Zealand Honey and Bee Alliance”. Here’s what we know, and what those at the coalface of reorganising Apiculture New Zealand and New Zealand Beekeeping Inc make of the government’s move.