BEEKEEPING

Honey is a popular food in New Zealand. Each person eats, on the average, nearly 5 lb a year. The annual average production is about 6,000 tons. Most of this is eaten locally, but about a sixth is exported. The thriving local and export trades have grown and been maintained with the help of a modern industrial organisation and of regulations governing disease control and the grading of honey to strict standards. Beeswax is also a valuable product. 210,315 lb was produced in the year ended 31 May 1964.

Registrations under the Apiaries Act show that at May 1963 there were 4,701 beekeepers with a total of 13,071 apiaries and 183,875 established hives. Many beekeepers owned fewer than 30 hives but about 250 were full-time commercial beekeepers having an average of 350 hives. Fifty-eight per cent of the hives and 57 per cent of the apiaries were in the North Island. The establishment cost of the industry is estimated at about £1,250,000.

Strains of Honey Bees

The main value to New Zealand of the beekeeping industry is not in the honey produced, but in the pollination of many types of the pasture plants essential for stock feed. For example, seeding of white clover, the country's most important pasture plant, depends almost entirely on honey bees, as do brassicas, fruit trees, and many other crops. Because of this essential service there is statutory control over the spraying of crops in bloom with chemicals harmful to bees. Many of these chemicals once caused heavy losses of bees. The Department of Agriculture tests many agricultural chemicals to find those which will control pests and diseases without harming bees. New Zealand has two varieties of indigenous bee, but as both are useless as honey bees the first settlers did not have honey available as food. In March 1839 the first hive bees (Apis mellifica) were landed from England at Hokianga, followed by later introductions in 1840 and 1842. Further introductions from Australia and America, and the increases resulting from natural swarming, soon produced a large and widespread bee population.

The first methods of producing honey for home use were primitive and wasteful, so that semi-commercial production did not begin until the Langstroth hive was introduced in 1878. Much later, motorised transport made the establishment of out–apiaries economic. These improvements led to the establishment of a progressive, full–time, commercial beekeeping industry.

There are many strains of honey bees, all of the species Apis mellifica. Experiments, have shown that the bees best suited to New Zealand are pure strains of Italian bees, which are good workers and do not swarm excessively. The popularity of these strains has encouraged careful breeding to produce improved strains, and queen breeders can now provide adequate stocks. Black or German strains are still common in New Zealand and there are hybrids produced by crosses between the two. Modern honey houses are equipped with electrically driven machinery for extracting, processing, and packing honey. The standard 10–frame Langstroth hive is used almost exclusively.

Honey for the local market is sold by the beekeepers themselves, but all export honey is distributed by the New Zealand Honey Marketing Authority. In 1964 there were 1,827,012 lb of honey exported, at a value of £125,966.

Nectar Sources

White clover is the most important source of nectar in New Zealand. It is also one of the most widespread and valuable pasture plants. Honey from this nectar is white, mild flavoured, and very popular. Important native trees which supply nectar are manuka, the southern and northern ratas, the pohutukawa, and the rewarewa or native honeysuckle. Some introduced weeds (dandelion, Scotch thistle, pennyroyal, and blackberry) are also sources of nectar.

Legislation and Disease Control

Under the Apiaries Act of 1927 all apiaries must be registered with the Horticulture Division, Department of Agriculture. All bees must be kept in hives with removable frames and beekeepers must permit their hives to be inspected by Government officers who keep a close watch for disease. The importation of bees is controlled by legislation to stop diseases being brought in. So far New Zealand has been kept free from Acarine disease, one of the worst and most destructive. American brood disease (Bacillus larvae) is a constant threat, but the rigorous system of inspection of hives by Government officers has kept this at a very low level. Diseased hives are destroyed.

The Government has recognised, by its substantial aid, the industry's great value in providing both a popular food and an invaluable pollinating service for agriculture. Apiaries are constantly inspected by officers of the Department of Agriculture; and the Department has for many years provided research services at the Wallaceville Animal Research Station. The soundness of the industry is due not only to this Government help but also to the ready cooperation of beekeepers through the National Beekeepers Association of New Zealand to keep the industry as efficient as possible, and to the continual effort to keep legislation up to date to cope with new problems.