Bee Farmers Association

[Nige.Coll]

Is joining the BFA worth it for a part timer ?
What do you get for the membership fee ?
I understand the insurance is worth the money if you have hundreds of hives but as a small scale part time job is it worth joining ?

Basically i'm asking what's in it for me.

 

[B+.]

Is joining the BFA worth it for a part timer ?

Basically i'm asking what's in it for me.

IMHO not enough to justify the cost. I found it too expensive for what I got out of it

 

[foghornleghorn]

Is there much in the magazine?

 

[maddydog]

Is there much in the magazine?

Better than the bbka one IMHO

 

[B+.]

There are some useful trips but they cost extra

 

[Nige.Coll]

Better than the bbka one IMHO

wouldn't be hard

 

[mazzamazda]

Is joining the BFA worth it for a part timer ?
What do you get for the membership fee ?
I understand the insurance is worth the money if you have hundreds of hives but as a small scale part time job is it worth joining ?

Basically i'm asking what's in it for me.

Is the insurance worth it for a few hundred hives? Do you know what it covers? I think I'll go for some form of insurance if I get back.

 

[daroco]

wouldn't be hard

I don't know BeeCraft seems to fail in that respect! Won't be renewing that subscription! Especially as catalogues are free

 

[Hivemaker.]

Is the insurance worth it for a few hundred hives? Do you know what it covers?

This policy will be provided to members as part of a members’ insurance pack, along with supporting information including a policy summary.

· The policy will provide the following cover:

o Public Liability - £5,000,000

o Products Liability - £5,000,000

o Transit – Livestock (bees) in transit – Load Limit £2,500 any vehicle UK transits.

o Transit – Stock and Contents – Load Limit £2,500 any vehicle UK transits.

o Contents and Stock – anywhere in the UK. Contents/machinery £25,000. Stock £15,000.

o Money £2,500 in transit; in office premises £5,000. Money at other times £1,000.

o Claims will be subject to a standard policy excess of £250.

o There is no turnover limit applicable to this basic level of cover. It will apply to all full members irrespective of business size.

Please note, all full members will qualify for this basic level of cover.
· Each full member will receive an insurance certificate detailing the product and public liability cover applicable within the insurance pack.

Extra cover is also available if needed.

 

[mazzamazda]

Extra cover is also available if needed.

Many thanks

 

[Chris B]

Bulk buys through the BFA can save you money. Jars, varroa treatments, and also discounts with the likes of Swienty.

 

[mazzamazda]

Bulk buys through the BFA can save you money. Jars, varroa treatments, and also discounts with the likes of Swienty.

Do you use them to insure your 300 hives? Can I be rude in asking how much it costs if you do.

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

I joined last year as a associate member and will be a full member when I renew this year, I have found the meetings very good a totally different mind set from my local association as most members seem to be part/full time bee keepers and business men not hobbyists. The year book is great for contacts.

 

[maddydog]

wouldn't be hard

Case in point - latest edition of BeeFarmer the first two articles are about new tests to check the authenticity and origin of honey, the second is the pros and cons of using a blower to clear supers.

 

[Chris B]

Do you use them to insure your 300 hives? Can I be rude in asking how much it costs if you do.

You get liability insurances as part of the membership. I don't insure the hives themselves against anything though (theft, disease etc.). As far as I know there is no such insurance on offer through the BFA. Not surprising as once you get to a large number the cost of premiums would be higher than the loss of a few hives every year.

 

[For want of a better word]

You get liability insurances as part of the membership. I don't insure the hives themselves against anything though (theft, disease etc.). As far as I know there is no such insurance on offer through the BFA. Not surprising as once you get to a large number the cost of premiums would be higher than the loss of a few hives every year.

We have an NFU policy to cover against theft, malicious damage and notifyable diseases for the hives and colonies.
The BFA insurance covers for transferring bees in vehicles... not covered on the NFU policy... although it does for othe live stock ( Bees are now food producing stock***... perhaps the NFU insurance has not caught up on this yet)

*** may have implications for bees kept on "Set Aside" land?

Yeghes da

 

[mazzamazda]

We have an NFU policy to cover against theft, malicious damage and notifyable diseases for the hives and colonies.
The BFA insurance covers for transferring bees in vehicles... not covered on the NFU policy... although it does for othe live stock ( Bees are now food producing stock***... perhaps the NFU insurance has not caught up on this yet)

*** may have implications for bees kept on "Set Aside" land?

Yeghes da

I'm seriously considering NFU insurance for my hives, just because I'm going to be keeping them all together over winter and the theft risk must be high. Slightly worried how the PT buckfasts and Ibericas are going to find winter in the UK too, should be ok, health certificate is still looking a very long way away so requeening before winter is out of the window.

 

[dpearce4]

I'm seriously considering NFU insurance for my hives, just because I'm going to be keeping them all together over winter and the theft risk must be high. Slightly worried how the PT buckfasts and Ibericas are going to find winter in the UK too, should be ok, health certificate is still looking a very long way away so requeening before winter is out of the window.

How many colonies are you bringing back to the uk? Have you decided where in the uk your coming back to?

 

[Poly Hive]

I am going back a few years now but the information I got one night at a BFa conference from a packer was invaluable. Cost me a bottle of red wine but the man taught my then wife and I a number of very positive lessons. Call it networking or what ever the current buzz word is but that info made us a fair sum in return.

If you go to the meetings you meet the people who are the dare I say it the real bee people. They don't ride hobby horses they make money.

Dons flack kit.
PH

 

[Into the lions den]

There are some useful trips but they cost extra

IMHO not enough to justify the cost. I found it too expensive for what I got out of it

.......................................................................................


Two replies in one post.

1. Are you seriously suggesting the trips should be free? Your subs would not even cover the flight ticket to the various overseas destinations. They are not expensive anyway for what you get. Or the domestic events? They are a lot cheaper if you do not stay in the group hotel or take the meals included in the package.

2. The cost of BFA membership is an absolute bargain. The same insurance cover for me would cost at last estimate...a couple of years back.... £14300. I have a bigger payroll today so I think it could be over 20K now.

Even the public liability that is now an absolute requirement of many of the larger landowners we go to would, on its own, cost us as much PER 100 hives, as the BFA membership in total. Thus even that single aspect of insurance would set me back 25 times the BFA subs. Its an absolute essential in todays 'claims culture' environment.

Unless you are running uninsured, or are under the impression you have better cover than you really do, I can see no way, even for the insurance alone, that BFA membership is not worth the money. To me it is worth multiples of the subs, even before the changes at the last meeting that made it so much cheaper for me. (Wrong decision IMO....the broadest backs should help carry the load better).


Only way you can justify the claim you do not get enough back from it is if you simply regard it as a cost and in the absence of an actual identifiable incoming cash amount decide there is no return. Forget all the things, in particular insurance, you cannot get cheaper elsewhere. You have to take these savings into account.

No doubt you will decline to accept any of the benefits of the increase in profile bee farming now enjoys thanks to the activities of the board and staff that the rest of us pay for? I have had this discussion with a few who have left, or declined to join, citing no return for their money. At the same time running off with pollination contracts the BFA found for them.

I think we are stronger hanging together, and the cost is negligible.