Educational Workshops
The standardisation of both beekeeping and honey extraction allows direct knowledge transfer from high-value beekeeping industries such as New Zealand into other environments, provided that both local expertise and climatic and geospatial realities are taken into account.
Beekeeping businesses are complex and nuanced enterprises that interact with the a range of other producers via the provision of pollination services or the use of nectar-producing crops such as clover or canola/oilseed rape. They are built on the foundations of high levels of bee health and bee welfare and a suitable genetic basis of their honeybee population, but there are many other factors in their success and sustainability.
Large-scale beekeeping enterprises, centralised honey processing, packaging and marketing have all been made possible with the development of the movable frame beehive. Modern beekeepers are equipped with beehives that can be globally standardised, they possess tools for the large-scale multiplication of bees and rearing of queens and have access to treatments for most honeybee diseases.
With growing global wealth and evolving consumer expectations, the perception of honey has changed throughout the past decades. Once simply an easily accessible sweetener, honey is now marketed as a more natural alternative to refined sugars, investigated for additional bioactive components and targeted towards high-end consumer segments. There has never been a better time to explore and develop new honey and bee product markets.
“Monofloral” honeys, which contain nectar from a limited range of sources (preferably a single source) and have defined sensory qualities such as taste, smell, viscosity and colour, are consistently commanding higher prices. The development of honey trademarks and the establishment of areas of controlled origin akin to the D.O.C. label used in Italian wines are being increasingly discussed in beekeeping industries worldwide.
We at FutureBees NZ can help you identify the factors that can bring your business to the next level. We offer services around
- Economic analysis, planning and modeling
- Beekeeping operations
- Processing and Packaging
- Genetic improvement planning
- Honey brand development and market exploration
- Pollination planning and strategy.