Friday, March 29, 2024

Beekeepers see a sting in levy tail

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Apiculture New Zealand is defending its conduct and support for a beekeeping commodity levy as it faces opposition to the proposal from NZ Beekeeping. NZ Beekeeping has accused Apiculture NZ of incompetence in planning the levy referendum that has just kicked off and is open till March 1.
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NZB president Jane Lorimer said her body also opposes the levy on grounds it is a tax on beekeepers struggling in a period of falling prices and no clear benefit has been spelled out to operators. 

“Beekeeping faces some big problems but Apiculture NZ is just not the right group to fix them. A compulsory levy would be a disaster for the industry,” Lorimer said.

All other primary sectors have a levy, typically administered through an industry body. 

The levy would be on all beekeepers producing more than 750kg of honey or 26 hives worth and is expected to cost producers 10c/kg.

But Lorimer said there are other ways to raise money that bypass the expense associated with a levy.

“We have asked on several occasions if there is an alternative. It appears the Government does not want to know unless it is a commodity levy but we do see other ways , possibly through a funded trust.” 

Lorimer said the industry had a levy that was discontinued in 2002 when beekeepers became dissatisfied with what it was achieving.

But Apiculture NZ chief executive Karin Kos understood that levy focused on market activities.

“What we have learnt through consulting with beekeepers is that they have some key priorities they would want a levy to address. These relate to bee health  and biosecurity being top priorities. The focus is entirely different to what it was back then.”

Lorimer said Australian beekeepers have a different model for collecting industry income but Kos said producers there have a levy and have funded some significant research work over the years. 

In NZ the levy is expected to raise about $2 million a year.

Beekeeping NZ is also concerned about how Apiculture NZ is running the referendum, citing irregularities in the documents and concerns over the database being used to identify keepers.

But Kos is confident the process and the levy itself are robust.

“We have studied a number of producer levies that other industries have here in NZ and believe we have come up with a realistic, workable and transparent solution for this industry,” Kos said.

Apiculture NZ made significant effort late last year to hold meetings with honey producers to understand their views and needs.

The entire process would be subject to independent auditing through ElectionNZ.

The referendum requires half the prospective levy payers who vote to vote yes for the proposal to succeed. 

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Beekeepers can find out more about the vote on www.apinz.org.nz/levy/

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