No money in honey now

[ericbeaumont]

Leaves them there and pays someone to manage them? Otherwise a lot of diesel to cover unless you can sell at an unholy price, and if the crop fails...

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

We got into the position a few years ago where other beeks were offering to pay for ground. Beyond a few jars of honey and a bottle of whiskey at Christmas I have never or ever will pay for ground.
Two years ago we were invited to place hives on ground totalling around 10,000 acre with all sorts of crops and habitat. This was because the landowners want to increase their environmental stewardship credentials, they were actually embarrassed last year when I gave them honey and refused payment.

As an aside, we have just moved the first lot of hives from the OSR, the have never returned in a better condition than this year. The estate do not use insecticide and use a six year crop rotation, they accept a bit of crop damage for the environmental benefit of not using sprays.

A landowner who respects the benefits of pollination and the added value this can bring to the local environment would surely not require payment for this mutually beneficial arrangement.
A few would probably be tempted by another offering payment, but is that person then really worth working with as can quite clearly not be trusted to work for mutual benefit.
My EX OSR grower regularly sprayed without telling me and was tempted by coin.

 

[Hachi]

We got into the position a few years ago where other beeks were offering to pay for ground. Beyond a few jars of honey and a bottle of whiskey at Christmas I have never or ever will pay for ground.
Two years ago we were invited to place hives on ground totalling around 10,000 acre with all sorts of crops and habitat. This was because the landowners want to increase their environmental stewardship credentials, they were actually embarrassed last year when I gave them honey and refused payment.

As an aside, we have just moved the first lot of hives from the OSR, the have never returned in a better condition than this year. The estate do not use insecticide and use a six year crop rotation, they accept a bit of crop damage for the environmental benefit of not using sprays.

A landowner who respects the benefits of pollination and the added value this can bring to the local environment would surely not require payment for this mutually beneficial arrangement.
A few would probably be tempted by another offering payment, but is that person then really worth working with as can quite clearly not be trusted to work for mutual benefit.
My EX OSR grower regularly sprayed without telling me and was tempted by coin.

There's always those that would do well to listen to your wise counsel above.

 

[ericbeaumont]

I like your philosophy, John.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I have no idea what sort of pressures farmers are under to gain commercial advantage but it's great to see not all are out for every last buck.
After some years of pretty intensive cropping on the farm my landlord has decided that he's leaving the majority of his land to fallow this year with several ares planted up with a Bee Mix and other areas with game bird mix......
Could be an interesting year.

 

[Somerford]

Hi Hachi

I can't remember/ don't know names sorry - no-one in Kennet but coincidentally at a meeting I was at last night the topic came up. There is one guy who comes from Wales has several hundred hives as I understand and 2 or 3 others were mentioned who had hives on the plain on non-MOD land. They may not meet your definition of big ( ) but if you pm me I will try and find out details as best I can.

Cheers D

The only Beefarmer who has approved access to MOD land on Salisbury Plain took over a number of old apiaries from a retiring PT beefarmer who has been mentioned already in this thread. I know them both.

There are three other Beefarmers that I know of who have apiaries adjacent to The Plain, one on the south, one across the North and through the middle and myself. But there are likely others.

The beefarmer you refer to from Wales is Wainwright’s Honey who also sell Salisbury Plain honey as a branded label.

The MOD ecologist placed a limit on the numbers a few years ago and to my knowledge this hasn’t been lifted, nor is it likely to be.

While it all sounds rosy with 95,000 acres of unimproved grassland, with the amount of live firing and military activity it makes for irregular checks and also having to change plans a lot if a sector is locked down or live firing is happening.

KR

S

 

[Somerford]

Yeah but Salisbury Plain is kind of special. Apart from the possibility of being killed by things that go bang, it is 300 square miles of largely unsprayed uncultivated chalk downland in the middle of the south of England.

You’ve got your calcs wrong there - 150 square miles = 95000 acres rounded up. This is the area of SPTA the MOD designated training area. The whole plain is around 300 square miles but I can assure you it is not largely unsprayed or unimproved in the half that isn’t MOD...intensively farmed more like with arable, beef, pig, chicken farms and a fair bit of new housing springing up along with a proposed new Royal Artillery museum on Netheravon Down being proposed..

S

 

[Somerford]

Hello there, and greetings from Nouvelle Zelande

Well, we had a Micky Mouse spring, ( in the Bay of Plenty ) and it has continued on through to mid summer. 50 odd days and NO rain ! Very poor nectar flow and increasing Queen deaths with eventual hive collapse ... and yes, you could say that's poor bking, but when you have 14 sites with numerous hives ...I simply don't have the time to sort, esp when lots of other daily junk eats out the plan

With the collapse of the ' Manuka honey ' market, my pastoral honey is now almost valueless ( valueless because honey packers are NO longer allowed to adulterate rubbishy crap Manuka honey with my and others pastoral honey to make it even worse ) ...probably about one £ / Kg ...so I am thinking , would there be a market for >>> NZ honey in GB ? <<<< any leads appreciated

The NZ Gov had to clamp down with very stringent rules relating to the bulldust 'Manuka ' honey crap you or others might be tempted to purchase, being a mostly agricultural based exporter, there was no room for any chance of smearing our other top grade ag exports with tis bullsh.. honey

Queen deaths ...possibly too old a comb or use of a new wasp poison ( lots of bk's are closing up hives for 2 days then laying wasp bait , so if you happen to be in the flight path ...wham oh

And good clover honey has a UMF ( Unique Manuka Factor ) of THREE ! hahaha

Going back to the original post - there does seem to an increasing number of people joining the beefarming association of late. Of course there are sadly the old hands passing on but it seems the numbers are growing
Having had a conversation with a supplier of kit a couple of weeks ago he is supplying kit and some nucs to a new beefarmer setting up with 70 hives...with v little experience or even knowledge of the industry.
I do see this as a potential issue for the future where people think running 50-100 hives on the side is a ‘nice little earner’ yet have little/no experience and then wonder why they make a loss.

The problem imho is people are taken in by the retail price of some honey, but like any product, the volume actually sold at the highest prices is far less than people think yet they do the sums, work out the averages and hey presto they have a business plan on paper.

Yes we only produce 14-20% of demand in the UK - but this includes all honey used in food production, cosmetics and medicines too. A fair amount is added as coating, frosting, or as a mixed ingredient. You can be sure the vast amount of this is bought ‘at a price’ to enable the food manufacturer to make a decent margin = cheap imported honey rather than UK honey.

Overall it’s good for equipment manufacturers, bee suppliers and memberships. Whether it is sustainable and it actually drives down the price of bulk, trade and retail remains to be seen.

KR

S

 

[ericbeaumont]

a new beefarmer setting up with 70 hives...with v little experience or even knowledge of the industry.
I do see this as a potential issue for the future where people think running 50-100 hives on the side is a ‘nice little earner’ yet have little/no experience

I recall a lunchtime chat at a Stoneleigh queen rearing workshop (ten years ago?) with a woman who had spent thirty years running her accountancy office, caught the bee fever and saw a way out; had two colonies in her garden and was about to buy a new Land Rover and sixty colonies and ride off into the sunset. I like a bold move but this shocked me and I wonder occasionally what happened to her dream.

At about the same time at the National Honey Show Dan Basterfield repeated the sensible route: build stocks as you gain experience, but never chase the numbers. Difficulty with that is that gaining experience and investing in kit takes a few years; too many want a quick fix.

A nice and precise post, Somerford.