I didn’t go into the initial kiwifruit frenzy or goats. I’ve certainly never owned ostriches or emus and I remain unconvinced planting manuka for honey production will provide any panacea.
There’s just too much about manuka production we just don’t know.
Mind you, that hasn’t stopped a pile of snake oil, forestry-type consultants pushing manuka as the great opportunity.
Just plant manuka and it will grow, provide carbon credits and give farmers massive returns.
Like protesters, they don’t let the facts get in the way of the story or, in this case, their profits.
I’ve seen a few manuka plantings, done at great expense with solid “consultants’ fees, that haven’t come to much.
It is not just a matter of planting it and leaving it to grow and produce. There’s a lot more to it than that, feral animals for one.
It starts with the definition of manuka honey and there isn’t one. There is no formal standard in place, there are only labelling guidelines.
Granted, Primary Industries Ministry staff are doing serious work on the issue and hope to have a science-based definition of manuka honey ready for consultation by mid-year. Following that there will be proper testing before export.
That is good news and it will be interesting to see just how much “manuka” honey will survive the rigours of testing.
It is an important process as we’ve had consultants saying that planting manuka will give manuka honey and lots of it but until there is a properly established testing regime no-one really knows.
In addition, it’s been suggested to me that we actually export more manuka honey than we produce.
That tells me a lot of work needs to be done before we have a credible export crop with a long-term future.
It was also with some interest that I read MPI had appointed consultants to investigate the planting of manuka and kanuka for erosion, carbon farming and honey production.
It is I move I strongly support but will provide little comfort for those who, over the past few years, have been assured that planting the shrub would fix all of the above. We just don’t know.
That point is that according to MPI there is little information available for landowners regarding best practices for planting and maintaining manuka plantations.
The move by MPI is to be applauded but again some who have already planted manuka could be confused as they might have been assured some years ago that the work had already been done.
MPI also claim there is little credible information available for landowners about which varieties are best suited to the land type and climate.
In addition, the MPI research will investigate optimal planting densities, best practice for site preparation, optimal soil and climate types and the management of planted manuka.
Again that hasn’t stopped “consultants” assuring farmers they have the credible oil and in fact had it some years ago.
I look forward to the completed MPI research with some interest and I’m pleased they have taken the initiative on this.
As I said at the start, we need hard, independent and credible information, not empty rhetoric.
Concerning the credibility stakes I believe the Manuka Farming New Zealand PGP work on manuka and manuka honey is credible and progressing well as is the work by Comvita.
My issue is that in our part of the country bee hives are becoming a little like the Wild West with hives by boundary fences, Dutch auctions for the placement of hives and the like.
It is now unusual to drive into Masterton and not pass one or two honey trucks. Two years ago you hardly ever saw one.
My view is that the MPI standard and research can’t be completed quickly enough as the bottom could fall out of the entire industry.
For example, just recently in Britain the Queen’s grocer, Fortnum and Mason, pulled our manuka honey from its shelves because it was concerned about the product’s authenticity.
Its testing showed lower than expected levels of a key ingredient.
That is serious.
The issue I had was that the Unique Manuka Factor Honey Association admitted the industry had taken a hit while accusing some sellers not taking due care.
The association had no idea where the sub-standard product came from and that in itself is a worry.
In addition, the Aussies have a march on us both with their research into the medicinal properties of their manuka honey and the fact that 83 out of the 87 Leptospermum species are found there.
So, would I plant one hectare of our property in manuka when there’s no credible research publicly available about it and no product definition of manuka honey while there’s market resistance along with dodgy honey being marketed.
Hell no.
