Latest news with #Mānuka
Otago Daily Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Former minister hits out at carbon farming of pines
A tree industry expert and former minister of forestry has condemned "lock and leave" carbon farming, but says you still can not tell farmers what to do with their land. Former Labour minister Stuart Nash said in his time with the portfolio he had a dream for how the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) would benefit the country. "With the ETS, for the first time ever there's been an economic incentive to plant up land that should have never been cleared in the first place," he said. But forestry conversions, since the incentive was introduced, where dense pines were planted with no plan to harvest the mature trees, were not good, he said. "You will end up with an ecological disaster in between 80 and 100 years," he said. He understood that some legislation was developing to help restrict the planting of pines, but said you still can not tell farmers what to do with their land and their money. "I don't know if that's the right route," he said. "Farmers get pretty p..... off ... because what it does mean is, their farm which may be worth, $10 million to a forester is now only worth $7m." The Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Scheme-Forestry Conversions) Amendment Bill passed its first reading in June. It proposed restrictions to the quality and proportion of arable land that could be planted in trees. Mr Nash had a masters degree in forestry science and previously worked for construction, paper and forestry giants Carter Holt Harvey and Fletcher Challenge. His ideal for carbon farming was that pines would be planted low density, for no longer than 50 years, while at the same time seeding natives. Then after 50 years, the ministry would allow the grower to collect carbon credits of the native forest as the pines died off. In this ideal situation, carbon farmers would not be allowed to collect credits or money on pines past that 50-year cut-off. He said research by the sustainability charitable trust Pure Advantage showed that Mānuka could be a just as fast growing and carbon-absorbing alternative to pines. While he was the minister, he said the research needed more time to cook and the good thing about pines were that they were the most hardy. "It's the over-boiled Brussels sprouts of the trees," he said. "Not many people like it, not many [bugs and diseases] like it [either]." Coming from Napier, he had seen the devastation Cylone Gabrielle and Cyclone Hale had on the east coast of the North Island in 2023. This was where trees on farms would have come in handy, he said as roots made the ground more hardy, and would have prevented slips and other soft ground corrosion after the floods. A lot of New Zealand land should never had been cleared for farming and he said it was expensive to plant hilly, non-productive land, without incentive. He said despite seeing the benefit of forests and the ETS for the land, he by no means wanted to see highly productive farms and soil turned into carbon farms. "I'm really loathe to tell farmers what they should and shouldn't do," he said. "But I'm very happy to tell carbon farmers what they should do."
Otago Daily Times
05-08-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Ex-minister hits out at pine carbon farming
A tree industry expert and former minister of forestry has condemned "lock and leave" carbon farming, but says you still can not tell farmers what to do with their land. Former Labour minister Stuart Nash said in his time with the portfolio he had a dream for how the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) would benefit the country. "With the ETS, for the first time ever there's been an economic incentive to plant up land that should have never been cleared in the first place," he said. But forestry conversions, since the incentive was introduced, where dense pines were planted with no plan to harvest the mature trees, were not good, he said. "You will end up with an ecological disaster in between 80 and 100 years," he said. He understood that some legislation was developing to help restrict the planting of pines, but said you still can not tell farmers what to do with their land and their money. "I don't know if that's the right route," he said. "Farmers get pretty p..... off ... because what it does mean is, their farm which may be worth, $10 million to a forester is now only worth $7m." The Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Scheme-Forestry Conversions) Amendment Bill passed its first reading in June. It proposed restrictions to the quality and proportion of arable land that could be planted in trees. Mr Nash had a masters degree in forestry science and previously worked for construction, paper and forestry giants Carter Holt Harvey and Fletcher Challenge. His ideal for carbon farming was that pines would be planted low density, for no longer than 50 years, while at the same time seeding natives. Then after 50 years, the ministry would allow the grower to collect carbon credits of the native forest as the pines died off. In this ideal situation, carbon farmers would not be allowed to collect credits or money on pines past that 50-year cut-off. He said research by the sustainability charitable trust Pure Advantage showed that Mānuka could be a just as fast growing and carbon-absorbing alternative to pines. While he was the minister, he said the research needed more time to cook and the good thing about pines were that they were the most hardy. "It's the over-boiled Brussels sprouts of the trees," he said. "Not many people like it, not many [bugs and diseases] like it [either]." Coming from Napier, he had seen the devastation Cylone Gabrielle and Cyclone Hale had on the east coast of the North Island in 2023. This was where trees on farms would have come in handy, he said as roots made the ground more hardy, and would have prevented slips and other soft ground corrosion after the floods. A lot of New Zealand land should never had been cleared for farming and he said it was expensive to plant hilly, non-productive land, without incentive. He said despite seeing the benefit of forests and the ETS for the land, he by no means wanted to see highly productive farms and soil turned into carbon farms. "I'm really loathe to tell farmers what they should and shouldn't do," he said. "But I'm very happy to tell carbon farmers what they should do."
NZ Herald
04-07-2025
- Health
- NZ Herald
From Barrier beekeeper to global wellness pioneer: Alan Bougen's 50-year journey with Comvita
In the rugged beauty of Aotea/Great Barrier Island in the early 1970s, a young Alan Bougen stood waist-deep in a creek, covered in bee stings but grinning through the pain. He'd just opened two abandoned beehives with no smoker, homemade veils, and zero experience. 'The bees were angry,' he recalls with a chuckle. 'Lynda and her friend got chased across a paddock, screaming. I ended up in that creek, stung to bits, but in complete awe of those creatures.' That chaotic moment marked the start of Comvita, a company that would grow from a backyard passion to the world's largest producer of Mānuka honey, now celebrating its 50th anniversary as Bougen is inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame. Bougen's journey began about as far from corporate boardrooms as one can get. In the late 1960s, travels through North Africa, Europe and the west coast of the United States exposed him to emerging concepts like clean living and the natural foods movement. A jar of raw honey in a US health food store in 1971 sparked a revelation. 'It was untouched, golden goodness,' he says. 'I thought, 'This is the perfect food.' I'd slather it on wholegrain bread with peanut butter after surfing. That was breakfast and lunch most days.' On their return to New Zealand, he and Lynda settled on Great Barrier, living off the land amid regenerating kauri and Mānuka forests. There, they found those fateful hives. 'I'd been buying 60-pound tins of Mānuka honey from a local beekeeper,' Bougen says. 'Now I had a shot at making my own.' With guidance from local beekeeper Les Blackwell, Bougen learned the rhythms of the hive. But it was a small orange pot of honey emulsion, used to heal a horse's wound, that changed everything. 'That blew my mind,' he says. 'It opened up a whole new world – honey not just for nutrition, but for healing.' Here's where fate intervenes. An intrigued Bougen wrote to the PO box on the jar, addressing a letter to 'Dear Sir or Madam'. Within days the reply came from Claude Stratford, a 65-year-old herbalist and beekeeper in Paengaroa. 'Dear Alan, you could be an answer to prayer. Come quickly.' If that differs wildly from how business is done in the digital age, so do the next steps. Then 25, Bougen hitchhiked down to the Bay of Plenty to meet. 'We talked for hours over herbal tea and honey,' he recalls. 'Claude was obsessed with health and bees, just like me. There was an instant connection.' Together, they founded Comvita – Latin for 'with life and vitality' – in 1975, driven by a shared vision of health through nature. Starting with 12 hives in Te Puke, they scaled to over 2400, exporting honey to the UK and bee pollen to Japan. 'Claude was endlessly curious,' Bougen says. 'He'd pore over health magazines, always looking for the next way to make something better.' Their early years were scrappy, funded by honey and kiwifruit pollination. Lessons were learned, sometimes daily. Comvita wasn't just a bee company, offering over 85 products, from wheat germ to herbal teas. But, as Bougen notes, 'Bees were always the secret sauce. That's where Comvita found its identity.' Comvita faced significant early challenges, particularly in the 1980s. 'We were in a pretty tough environment in New Zealand,' Bougen recalls, citing high interest rates and the 1987 stock market crash. 'Interest rates were through the roof… times were hard.' Internal struggles, including shareholder disputes, added to the pressure, but Bougen's persistence kept the company afloat. However, a turning point came in the form of two sources – one likely, the other highly unlikely. Professor Peter Molan's research on Mānuka honey's antimicrobial properties brought science to the balm applied to a horse's foreleg all those years ago. 'When Molan's work hit, I knew: 'This is the future. This honey is therapeutic.'' Comvita co-created the UMF™ trademark, launched medical-grade Mānuka wound care products, and took the honey global at the 2000 Apimondia congress, handing out 20,000 sample packs. 'We were the first to bring UMF™ Mānuka to Singapore, to UK health food stores,' Bougen says. 'We just kept going.' Far less likely an impetus came from the Chernobyl meltdown and the threat of a nuclear cloud impacting health across Western Europe. Almost overnight, demand for uncontaminated therapeutic Southern Hemisphere honey went through the roof. 'That really underscored that the world needed what we had,' says Bougen, admitting it is a little on the weird side that an event so far away and completely antithetical to New Zealand's 'nuclear free' stance had such an impact. Today, while Comvita exports to over 20 countries, with annual revenues exceeding $200 million, Bougen says the underlying principles of the company haven't changed. 'It's purpose and people and seeking out the right people who believe in the vision and direction of what we're doing.' His induction into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame, announced by Young Enterprise Trust for the August 2025 gala, celebrates this legacy. Despite his success, Bougen remains humble, a hint of his surfing days still shining through. 'But it's not just about me – it's about Claude, the bees, and everyone who built Comvita.' Sustainability remains his passion, and there's more than a twinkle in his eye as he tells of the thousands of hectares of land planted with native Mānuka, reflecting his vision for a greener future. 'I imagine my great-grandchildren walking through a vibrant forest we helped plant, full of bees and kiwis calling at night,' he says. As Comvita marks 50 years, Bougen's story – from a stung-up novice to a global wellness pioneer – embodies resilience, curiosity, and care. 'We didn't set out to build a company,' he says with a smile. 'We wanted to live well and help others do the same. And I suppose you could say the bees showed us the way.'
Scoop
25-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
New Zealand Micro Distillery Shines With Old Tom Coromandel Mānuka Gin
Awildian Coromandel Gin, crafted by The Coromandel Distilling Co. in Thames, New Zealand, has been awarded "World's Best" at the World Gin Awards in London for the second time - making it the only New Zealand distillery to have achieved this level of recognition twice. In 2022, Awildian Coromandel Gin was named World's Best Classic Gin, and this year it was awarded World's Best Matured Gin at the ceremony held in London on June 4th. This latest accolade comes on the heels of a gold award at this year's esteemed Berlin International Spirits Awards. By reviving the Old Tom Gin style popular in the 18th century, Awildian Mānuka Gin is contributing to a spirited renaissance. This remarkable matured gin combines premium sugarcane alcohol with Tongan vanilla, Guatemalan cardamom, Madagascan pepper, Seville orange, fresh ginger, and sixteen additional botanicals. The result is a silky, warming spirit that is distilled in micro-batches and aged in carefully toasted Mānuka wood coated with local medicinal-grade Mānuka honey. Awildian Coromandel Gin beat out 42 countries, including Scotland's The Botanist Gin and Sweden's Hernö Gin, to claim the title of World's Best Matured Gin. The Story Behind the Success Co-owners Paul Schneider and Daniela Suess operate a small distillery in the heart of Thames, consistently performing well on the global stage with a series of prestigious awards including at the IWSC, the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and the World Gin Awards. In 2022, the Coromandel Distilling Company's flagship Awildian gin was named the World's Best Classic Gin at the World Gin Awards, marking the first time a New Zealand distillery has achieved this honor. They also won New Zealand's Best Matured Gin that year. In 2023, they were recognized for New Zealand's Best Classic, Matured, and Contemporary gins. By 2024, in their third year of entering the awards, Schneider and Suess amassed an impressive five Country Winner Golds for their Color-Changing, Classic, Matured, London Dry, and Flavored Gins. This year was their first year of entering the Berlin International Spirits Awards while Gold was again awarded for Awildian Classic as well as Mānuka at the World Gin Awards. Schneider attributes their success to their dedication to their craft: 'We are constantly working and imagining new ways to bring gin to life, but needless to say, we'll be pausing for a drink to celebrate this!' Since opening its doors in 2019, the distillery has collected over 40 awards, begun exporting to Europe and Fiji, and opened a tasting room to accommodate the growing number of curious visitors to Thames. The couple never anticipated a career in distilling gin. With five degrees between them, including a Master's and a PhD, along with years of experience in conservation and postdoctoral research, they initially pursued different paths. However, their lifelong passions formed a perfect foundation for distilling: a shared love for the natural world and a commitment to preserving the wilderness and unspoiled environments. Suess, a hobby beekeeper, began experimenting with honey by-products, particularly mead, which sparked their enthusiasm for distilling and transformed it into a full-blown passion for crafting gin. Nestled in the heart of Thames, the distillery now welcomes visitors for tastings, sales, and private tours. Behind the scenes, Suess, Schneider, and their team are busy with distilling and fulfilling orders, continually innovating with their next creations. The couple forages botanicals locally whenever possible, including those from their own distiller's garden. Schneider shares his enthusiasm for their craft: 'I still can't imagine another business that encapsulates all the facets of our lives like the distillation of gin does. That love for the wilderness and the passion for exploration and curiosity are all present. We named it Awildian because it means 'growing wild' or 'refusing to be tamed,' and we've never liked tame.' Their business model is intentionally micro, focusing on environmental responsibility with a commitment to donating 1% of their revenue to local conservation groups. They are dedicated to the long, thoughtful process of creating the perfect drop, yet they recognize the potential to scale up production in response to increasing demand.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Yahoo
Bees & Trees Announces New Zealand Adventure Giveaway by Trying This Powerful Superfood
Atlanta, Georgia , June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bees & Trees, a premier retailer of genuine New Zealand Mānuka honey, is offering wellness warriors the opportunity of a lifetime: a grand‑prize adventure deep into New Zealand's untouched Mānuka country — complete with round‑trip airfare to New Zealand, a private helicopter to remote apiaries, hands‑on honey harvesting, and guided hikes around the iconic Mt. lucky winner and guest will experience the pristine wilderness that creates your most powerful honey. HOW TO ENTER — EVERY SWEET ACTION COUNTS Earn entries any (or every) way you like: Shop at — every dollar spent = 1 entry (double entries on orders over $100) Join the email list and opt in for SMS updates Follow Bees & Trees on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube Refer friends and share the buzz for bonus entries And more The giveaway runs until August 3, 2025 at 11:59 PM PT. Weekly winners snag jars of ultra‑potent Mānuka honey, with the grand‑prize trip announced on August 8, 2025. Enter Now and Taste the Adventure The giveaway is live and running until August 3, 2025, 11:59 PM PT. Don't miss your chance to win the ultimate dream trip — plus weekly prizes featuring Bees & Trees' exclusive Mānuka honey. Visit to enter and start earning your entries today. WATCH & LEARN — EVERY SWEET ACTION COUNTS About Bees & Trees Bees & Trees is dedicated to bringing the highest-quality Mānuka honey directly from New Zealand's pristine landscapes to customers worldwide. Their ethically sourced honey supports sustainable beekeeping practices and offers unmatched potency and purity. Press inquiries Bees & Trees Mike Everly mike@ 888-626-8521 A video accompanying this announcement is available athttps://
