Beefarmers Membership

[thebeeman]

Just had my renewal for from Alex
Membership Fee for 2015 unchanged @£100
But it seems to read that there will be no Insurance cover included
and you have to sort your own out to cover Public,Product & Employee Liability. Now im struggling to see what you get for the £100 membership

Unless im a complete spanner and have misread it!
Here`s hoping i am that Spanner.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Hi Mike, sounds like tier one membership, which covers you for 40 to 100 hives, and third party public and product liability, but not employers liability, that is a separate insurance which can be done through the BFA at extra cost, it is based on what you pay your employee/s

 

[thebeeman]

Make it simple Pete I am from Yorkshire
So they are saying pay us your full membership and were going to give you less. Off you go and buy your own insurance. One of the main points of the Bee Farmers was there Insurance Policy

 

[thebeeman]

As this is a closed area only to members of the Bee Farmers Association.
It looks like this new EU law will not only effect the BFA but all so any club
be it Bees or anything that offer blanket insurance to members
but as far as bees are concerned this could affect local BKAs and the BBKA also. Hopefully someone somewhere can find a fix to this problem.

But back to the BFA

Following up regarding the possible withdrawal of Public & Product liability Insurance
I have The following concerns that would need an answer before i would feel comfortable renewing my membership for 2015
and not putting that fee toward purchasing my own insurance policy

1) would a large part of membership paid be refunded if no insurance cover was offered after 21st March 2015
2) What would the membership cost be Moving forward.
3) What is a substantial discount on Insurance taken on an individual basis and would this be guaranteed as a genuine discount
4) What are the real & true benefits to being a member of the Bee Farmers Association with no insurance cover

 

[Pete D]

Hi, I have been an associate member for 2 years with 20 - 40 hives. You can only be an associate for 2 years and then it's full or nothing. It's cost me £50 a year and as an associate member you get no insurance.
I now have 50+ hives so can become a full member but @£100
Not sure I will be renewing as not sure I really have had any benefit the last 2 years or what I may get going forward.

 

[thebeeman]

Hi
Pete unless you took advantage of there bulk buy scheme and saved £50 on jars

 

[Pete D]

No as the jars are no cheaper than I can buy in the quantities that I need. I buy a pallet at a time but which is just under 3000 jars and they last me nearly the year as I am still building up hive numbers.
12oz hex is what I use and I can get them at about 24p each from most of the normal suppliers and on my workings they are no cheaper with the BFA, unless I am working it out wrong. Last year got some at 18.5p each when on cheapie offer.
Do you know the price if I buy 3 pallets with BFA ?

 

[thebeeman]

You got them a fraction of a penny cheaper last year

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Looks like our insurance cover will remain in place until 21st of March 2015 then the new FCA rules kick in, it looks like we will have to be covered as individuals with a premium of around £159 each for base cover!!i have not read it in too much detail but if this is the case i am not very impressed, i have been a member of several trade associations over the years and my golden rule is that the benefits of being a member should at least equal or be greater than the cost of membership, unless i buy pallet loads of jars i can not see this being the case, apart from the DASH scheme of course, i think the BFA should and could be doing more for its members in terms of bulk purchases prices and could chase manufactures for trade discounts for us at source, step up a gear in relations with farmers making it easier to find pollination contracts and permanent site for our bees, i know a lot of work is being undertaken on some of the above, unfortunately it takes a long time for anything to come out of it, time i have not got as bee farming is now my main source of income i need to expand now, so i will be looking very closely to see if my continued membership is worth while, i hope it is but i am not interested in being a member of a social club there needs to be real benefits and insurance was a big one.

 

[thebeeman]

I totally agree the insurance is number 1 and im sure as individuals its not hard to form a group to bulk buy and get the same or better discounts without having to pay a membership fee. As a complete package the BFA was good to be a member of but not as a once a year social club. DASH would have been nice but up here in Scotland every attempt i have made to get involved has been met with a big fat NO so the benefits get even smaller.
I would be willing to pay next years membership if there was a guarantee that membership could be withdrawn or membership fees reduced and refunded to reflect the lack of insurance come March 21st when the current Insurance expires

 

[beebreeder]

I am doing my best with the NFU Chris, have not had my renewal package yet but, if this was on Facebook as well Alex may fill in some gaps,as you should have seen we are going to send out an invite to farmers to attend Alan Harts talk with Southern inFebruary, hopefully generate some more contacts
Kev

 

[Hivemaker.]

I am doing my best with the NFU Chris

Doing what?

 

[beebreeder]

Doing what?

Do you not read the bulletin?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Do you not read the bulletin?

Did not see any mention about insurance on there, Kev, so is it true, insurance is no more after March?

 

[beebreeder]

Don't know about the insurance Pete, last I heard was that members had asked about bolt on cover like cover when moving bees, goods on transit and other things but I do not know the outcome, I do not know what goes on at board meetings etc
With the big changes in the common agriculture policy a lot of farmers will have to grow a third crop, many of which will need pollination, so possibly a good time to get in touch with the farming community, there is an article in the bulletin about it
Kev

 

[Hivemaker.]

With the big changes in the common agriculture policy a lot of farmers will have to grow a third crop

They only grow sheep around here, and i really cannot see how they could grow a third crop of sheep, they already have a hard job growing one crop a year.

 

[thebeeman]

I spoke to board members yesterday and they confirmed that public & product liability insurance would end in March if an alternative was not found

 

[Chrisfnvs]

Hi Kev, I know you are doing a lot of work in your new post as branch Chairman, and doing a great job I might add, but things still take too long for me, and some committee members dont seem too bothered in helping fellow members in a similar position to us, the BFA have put a lot of time and money into the Apprentice scheme which is a good thing, but where do they go from there, they will be in the same position as us in trying to build up their own bee farms, in many/most cases this will be out of their reach in financial terms. i would like to see more help for those setting up. i wont hold my breath, I have ask Alex the question on Face book so we might get his version soon. but i fear bad news as per the above post confirming our fears, i will continue my membership for next year and see how things go, i guess we are better in than out

 

[Hivemaker.]

i will continue my membership for next year and see how things go, i guess we are better in than out

I won't be renewing membership, if this is the case, i will re-join when they know what is going on.

 

[Chrisfnvs]

I won't be renewing membership, if this is the case, i will re-join when they know what is going on.

I think a lot of members will do the same Pete, only problem is this will all happen down the line in March 2015 when we have all paid up, i know they say they are looking for an alternative, just hope they find one asap and let us all know before we lose too many members, i expect it is all down to EU rules !!