'Tug of war' between kiwifruit and honey industries for beehives

There's growing competition for beehives as honey prices sweeten again and kiwifruit orchards continue to grow.

Kiwifruit growers need about 10 hives per hectare on orchard as the flowering period starts come spring - across the industry that's 150,000 hives needed.

In recent years a glut of honey which drove honey prices down saw many beekeepers turn to pollination as their income focus, while a number left the industry entirely - with beehive numbers having halved since a peak in 2019 to below 500,000 hives. About 13 percent of the country's hives were also lost last year due to an external parasite, the varroa mite.

There are signs numbers are starting to rebuild as honey prices improve.

Liam Gavin's family has been running beehives in Northland for four generations, since 1912. Based near Whangārei, he runs up to 1200 hives solely focussed on mānuka production.

"There was a large oversupply of honey sitting in sheds around the country for the last five years.

"Exports are going really well, which has essentially cleared those sheds. So there's no longer that large excess of honey that's been sitting around, and it's now flipped - the demand for it is quite heavy."

Gavin said last year was one of their biggest years in terms of export volumes.

He said renewed confidence in honey production is seeing some pivot away from pollination.

"I sort of describe it as the tug of war between honey and pollination.

"Both are needing more beehives. So which one, where are they going to go? And that'll all be down to, like, region-specific [stuff], and what people like to do in terms of how they beekeep."

New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated chief executive Colin Bond said it was not a new challenge for the industry.

"There's a direct relationship between what's happening in the honey industry versus how many hives are available for pollination."

With honey prices coming back up, Bond expected more beekeepers would prioritise honey over pollination, which would create a challenge for kiwifruit growers.

He said with the industry's aspirations to grow - Zespri predicts it could grow by 400ha per year - even more beehives would be needed for pollination in future.

He encouraged growers to get in touch about beehives early to understand where the gaps might be.