This month Courier Country will feature discussions with bee industry leaders about the challenges faced by the sector and the work being done to raise awareness of the importance of its contribution.
Imposing a honey industry levy may be one way to overcome the challenges which lie ahead for the industry, Federated Farmers Bees executive member Peter Bell says.
Whatever the solution, the industry needed to find a way to fund industry research and development.
It also had to form a joint plan and response in case of a biosecurity incursion, Mr Bell said.
More than half of New Zealand honey is exported and, at present, none may be imported.
Mr Bell owns Mackenzie Country Honey and runs 2000 hives producing clover and viper's bugloss honey, near Twizel.
He said the industry was ''in good heart'' and there was a strong demand for New Zealand honey, especially manuka honey.
The Federated Farmers Bee Industry Group recently held its conference and annual meeting in Central Otago. Two issues of concern have emerged recently.
The integrity and ''credibility'' of New Zealand honey production had to be maintained as overseas importers were putting the product under greater scrutiny as their consumers increased their focus on food quality and safety, Mr Bell said.
And the risk of pests and diseases coming into New Zealand remained a constant threat, he said.
An incursion of a serious pest or disease would not just threaten the livelihood of beekeepers but also that of those in the horticultural, seed and pastoral sectors who relied on bees for pollination.
Varroa had already taken its toll, but there were other pests and diseases such as European foulbrood and the small hive beetle, which were established in Australia and needed to be kept out of this country, Mr Bell said.
The two main industry bodies - Federated Farmers Bees and the National Beekeepers' Association - were working together for biosecurity purposes, he said.
They needed to do so to form a ''government-industry agreement (GIA)'' with the Ministry for Primary Industries.
A GIA identifies the biosecurity risks of greatest concern to an industry and puts in place a plan to manage and respond to those risks.
Under a GIA the industry agrees, jointly with the government, to meet the costs of managing the risk.
For the purposes of a GIA, the ministry requires its relationship be with a single industry body.
''It has to be managed through one organisation, so it [a joint honey industry body] needs to be sorted,'' Mr Bell said.
The recent scrutiny by overseas importers of manuka honey had highlighted another reason the industry needed to work together and where more funding was needed, he said.
Most regulators in importing countries were using the new tests for manuka honey (which would not give false readings suggesting sugar had been added to the honey), but other concerns could arise.
The company he supplied had necessarily become much more rigorous with its testing, beginning before the honey was accepted by the plant, which was well before it was exported.
''We don't want it to go overseas and find there is something wrong with it.
''With our border security arrangements, it can't come back.''
The Bee Products Standards Council (BPSC) was conducting research to create a ''honey standard'' and might apply for a Sustainable Farming Fund grant or other grants, but the council was funded mostly through voluntary donations, he said.
Federated Farmers Bees members paid $1 per hive to the BPSC.
One project under way was to look at the possible presence of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) in viper's bugloss honey, because the plant could produce low levels of the toxin.
Overseas markets were already testing for these compounds, although their ultimate effect on health was still under debate, he said.
PA was not proving to be a major barrier to trade at present and there been no research conducted on toxicity levels, he said.
''Some importers had set the level at higher than we want it; other markets are fine with it.
''Some of these problems can be more of a trade barrier to slow down demand for our products.
''[But] we need to meet it with science.''
An industry-wide levy would pay for such scientific investigation, Mr Bell said.
Overall, New Zealand hive numbers had increased and this could be for a number of reasons.
Manuka honey production in the North Island was booming and hives had to be registered if the producer wanted to export, he said.
The American foulbrood management strategy had also encouraged more hive registration.
There was also a small chance some resistance to varroa might be developing, he said.
It was not easy to recognise a varroa-resistant hive, although the industry was working on a test to do so.
All farmers needed to work together to protect bees, Mr Bell said.
They could do this by using pesticides, herbicides and surfactants wisely and according to instructions.
''If in doubt, get advice,'' he said.
Farming was becoming more of a ''monoculture'' as tree lanes disappeared to make way for centre pivots.
But once farm infrastructure was in place the bee industry was asking farmers to consider planting a variety of bee-friendly trees.
''A variety of pollen is essential to bee health,'' he said.
The Trees for Bees project, supported by the industry and Landcare Research, had produced a planting list for each region.
It had studied not only the plants that bees visit but also the protein levels in each pollen and discovered some plants produced higher-protein pollen than others, Mr Bell said.