Craig: Twelve years ago, Midlands Seeds looked at their needs to pollinate their carrot seed.
[Text on screen: Craig Atkinson General Manager, Midlands Apiaries]
Craig: And rather than rely on external beekeepers, decided to buy a beekeeping company.
Well, 2016-2017 there was a major increased level of interest in Mānuka, and we were well positioned to capture that opportunity globally.
The investment we made in the state of art factory and facilities, including our in-house lab positioned us as a leader in Mānuka export.
There was a degree of entrepreneurship in terms of the size of the investment the company made, in anticipation of the Mānuka market and the demand for Mānuka honey globally would continue and it's been proven to be correct.
There is a lot of opportunity to be had. Mānuka has been the backbone of the honey industry to date, but there's a lot of fantastic non-Mānuka products, honey products out there that we are working hard to create markets, so we're adding flavours to some honeys, a range of honeys. We're also exploring some of the other wellness benefits of other honey types such as honey dew and thyme.
I would like to think Midlands Apiaries can become in the top two or top three of New Zealand honey producers and exporters over time.
We have ambitions for producing the highest quality honey. We've got fantastic staff and fantastic facilities, so we have every opportunity to achieve that goal.
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