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New Zealand's best honey producers have been named at the Apiculture New Zealand National Honey Competition at the industry's annual conference.
The conference hosted more than 1000 delegates from the apiculture industry at the Rotorua Energy Events Centre from June 24 to 26.
The National Honey Competition was one of the highlights of the event honouring producers across a range of honey categories and naming the top overall producer at a gala dinner on Saturday evening.
The 2021 Supreme Award winner was Jarved Allan of 100% Pure New Zealand Honey based in Timaru. Jarved received four gold medals and four silver medals for a variety of honeys including liquid honey, naturally granulated honey, creamed honey, honeydew and cut comb.
The runner-up was Rotorua-based, non-commercial beekeeper Kim Poynter who received three gold medals, one silver and a bronze.
In third place were Jody and Ralph Mitchell of Kaimai Range Honey from Tauranga who received one gold, two silvers and a bronze medal.
Head judge Maureen Conquer said the judging panel had been extremely impressed with the quality and taste of the honeys entered.
"It was an absolute pleasure to sample these honeys over the past day and a half and extremely difficult to determine the winners.
"The number and quality of entries is continuing to increase each year, showing the true wealth of talent in our industry.
All entries were blind tasted, and an international scale of points was used to determine the winners across 12 main categories.
Apiculture New Zealand chief executive Karin Kos said the awards were highly contested among beekeepers and honey producers.
"Our industry knows that a medal in the ApiNZ National Honey Awards indicates the highest quality of honey.
"We have so many beautiful honeys available in New Zealand, but the National Honey Award winners have produced something truly special."
One more week to enter Rotorua business awards
Local companies have less than a week to enter this year's Rotorua business awards.
Entries for the Tompkins Wake Rotorua Business Awards 2021 close on July 9.
Rotorua Chamber of Commerce chief executive Bryce Heard said there had been a "fantastic response" so far.
But he advised the business community to hurry as the window of opportunity to enter the 2021 awards was closing.
"If you want to be part of it, be quick. It's going to be a great occasion. You've got just under a week."
The Tompkins Wake Rotorua Business Awards 2021 main gala event is scheduled for October 9, 2021.
All Entries must be completed by July 9. To enter, go to www.rotoruabusinessawards.co.nz
Road Science wins safety award
Working on New Zealand roads is now a whole lot safer thanks to Mount Maunganui-based firm Road Science.
The Mount firm has devised a way to substantially reduce the time their staff spend standing in the road corridor.
The innovation saw Road Science's Mobile Data Capture Unit win a major category at the 2021 New Zealand Workplace Health & Safety Awards for the "best initiative to address a work-related safety risk".
Road Science staff often need to take measurements required for road maintenance programmes and they typically used to survey 1km per day.
But a combination of new technology – one which is a high-tech mobile mapper – means 50km a day can now be surveyed from the safety of a vehicle instead of standing in the road corridor surrounded by traffic.
Road Science spokesman Richard Carter said he was "incredibly proud" of the dedication and professionalism his team display on daily basis.
"This award is great recognition of the work that's gone into improving both safety and productivity outcomes."
The company invested in a Leica Pegasus Two Ultimate (P2U) Mobile Laser Scanner from Switzerland, which is a precise geospatial tool.
"The beauty of this machine is that it does a million scans a second while travelling at speed," Carter said.
"We've got it installed in the back of a ute. We drive down the road at 80km/h and for the bulk of the tasks we do in transport and road construction, it picks up this same information, to the same – if not greater – accuracy than a surveyor.
"We can substantially reduce people's time spent standing in, and around, the road corridor and therefore people's exposure to traffic hazards is greatly reduced."
Carter said by replacing outdated methods and work practices, the Mobile Data Capture Unit has revolutionised Road Science's business.
The technology also captures comprehensive information that can be re-used over and over again.
"You can go get all the roading information you need but you also get all the signposts, all the safety crash barriers, all the line marking, all the trees, all the power line clearances… it saves having to send a surveyor out repeatedly to do different tasks."
Kiwi firm leading delivery of home compostable fruit labels
One of Aotearoa's leading producer of fruit labels, Jenkins Freshpac Systems, has been awarded a gold medal in development and creativity for their industrial compostable label.
Now the Tauranga-based firm has its eyes firmly set on testing and refining a home compostable fruit label.
Jamie Lunam, general manager of Jenkins Freshpac Systems at Tauriko Business Estate, says home compostable is what they've been working on for some time.
"Home compostable is a term that means the label on your produce can simply be added to your garden compost to break down without a trace, rather than requiring a more intensive, industrial-scale composting system which is unavailable in many areas of the country."
The award coincides with the announcement by Environment Minister David Parker, that single-use, non-compostable plastic labels will be phased out by mid-2023, a move that Lunam can see the benefits of.
"We're hugely supportive of the action to reduce plastic. Our team and the growers and marketers we work with are passionate about providing sustainable, innovative packaging that minimises waste," Lunam says.
"Together, we've already worked on projects that have seen around 40,000 kilograms of plastic diverted from landfills."
Although they support the drive to compostable solutions, Jenkins Freshpac Systems, along with their international partner, Sinclair International, a major global producer of fruit labels, asked the government consider removing fruit labels from the list of single-use plastics to phase out.
"We've been working on sustainable packaging and labelling for over a decade without a mandate from government, we're at a stage where no additional resource, funding or duress will speed up the process.
"The work is well under way, we just need a little more time than we've been given by the Minister to complete our development process."
Lunam says while they are in the final stages of testing for a label that meets this standard it's not effective on all fruit.
"We're going to need every bit of time we can get and are concerned the Minister's goal of being ready by 2023 is too tight for us to have a solution for all produce."
Rare Pāpāmoa section up for sale
A rare 4.32 hectares of land in Pāpāmoa will soon enter the market and is expected to create plenty of interest among residential and commercial developers.
The site, which occupies a small house, is going up for sale on July 5 and will go to tender on August 5.
Property Brokers regional manager Simon Short said the land was close to the main arterial link, good schooling and other amenities including a nearby shopping centre and supermarket.
"Given the scarcity of land available this is going to create a lot of interest."
NZ productivity commission chair to speak in Tauranga
Wellbeing from a productivity-related perspective will be the topic of an address by newly appointed New Zealand productivity commission chair, Ganesh Nana, when he speaks in Tauranga this month.
Ganesh has been invited to speak in Tauranga by Mana Taiao Events and the Tauranga Maori Business Association.
Ganesh says productivity and wellbeing have to be viewed together, not separately.
"There are some who view wellbeing as a 'nice to have', suggesting we need to wait till we can afford improved wellbeing. Thankfully, such a perspective is no longer prevalent."
The new commissioner says the commission's focus on understanding how improved productivity can lift wellbeing directly relates to investigations that show how other factors such as poor quality and insecure housing, can have a negative effect on productivity.
Ganesh will also address taonga, which he views as the four capitals within a construct called the Treasury Living Standards Framework – physical capital, human capital, natural capital, and social capital.
Mana Taiao director Buddy Mikaere says the event is an opportunity for the business community and interested public to get to grips with the commission's efforts to embrace broader wellbeing in productivity-related terms.
"Ganesh's presentation in Tauranga will hopefully promote public understanding and discussion about how having people feel good about themselves and the community they live in, has a positive impact on work productivity-related matters.
"We hope it encourages productive discussion across our business community."
Ganesh Nana will present on July 13 at the Bay of Plenty Regional Council chambers.
Sponsored by the BOPRC and Priority One, the event starts at 4.30pm. Entry is free.
The event will be chaired by business studies Professor Jens Mueller.
Kiwi shopping habits driven by desire to live more sustainably
New research shows that 86 per cent of Kiwis are prepared to change the retailers they buy from or the products they buy, in order to be more sustainable.
The new findings are from a Retail NZ-commissioned Colmar Brunton survey of more than 1000 respondents which shows that Kiwis are changing their shopping habits to make more sustainable choices.
"Retailers are ultimately consumer-led and are there to deliver the goods and services that customers want, in the way that customers want them," said Greg Harford, Retail NZ's chief executive.
"The new research shows clear signals that there is more consumer demand than ever for access to sustainable products and services. For 60 per cent of consumers surveyed the top concern is excess and non-recyclable packaging and plastic bags, which remains a significant environmental pollutant.
"There is growing demand from customers for sustainable products and services, although customers aren't necessarily following through on their intentions. 59 per cent say that they have made some changes to the way they shop, with a focus on avoiding plastic bags and packaging, but 41 per cent of consumers have yet to make changes.
"Retailers are committed to delivering better outcomes for the planet, their customers and for the people who work in their supply chains. Substantial progress has already been made over the past few years and as consumers increasingly shop through a sustainability lens, we look forward to seeing even greater gains across the retail sector.
As part of the survey, consumers were asked to spontaneously identify retailers they consider to be a sustainability leader.
"The stand-out from this part of the survey is The Warehouse, with 26 per cent of respondents spontaneously identifying the retailer as showing sustainability leadership. Other major chains including New World, Countdown and EcoStore are seen as leaders by between 10 and 14 per cent of respondents."
Rocking the boat: Opportunities and challenges of aquaculture
Aquaculture has become a hot-button topic this year, with the release of the Netflix documentary Seaspiracy.
However, the way the industry is portrayed, and some facts in the story, are not the whole truth, contends Dr Simon Muncaster, senior lecturer in the School of Marine Science and Aquaculture at the University of Waikato in Tauranga.
He is speaking at a free public lecture on July 6, from 6pm, at the university's Durham St campus.
The event, Aquaculture in the 21st century; a problem or solution?, will look at some of the issues facing the aquaculture industry, bust some myths, and offer some solutions for the future.
Muncaster contends the New Zealand government's a goal of growing our aquaculture industry to $3 billion in sales by 2035 was possible to be done sustainably and in collaboration with communities - although he says there are challenges for the industry.
"Aquaculture cops some negative press for its environmental impacts, but any farming has an associated environmental effect. The important issue is how you minimise and mitigate this."
With the world's growing population, Muncaster says "we have to farm [and] we have to eat".
"If you look at the planet, over 70 per cent is ocean and water. So to only farm terrestrially is missing one of our largest resources. Aquaculture can be an extremely efficient way of producing protein.
"[But] if you are going to use a resource, you want to treat it as respectfully as you can."
Looking for more sustainable solutions drove his PhD research at the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, which focused on building a new candidate species for aquaculture.
"Ever since then I've been wanting to get into more environmentally sound aquaculture."
Muncaster returned from overseas in 2010 to work at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, and began working at the University of Waikato - Tauranga in 2019.
New Bay Venues Limited directors confirmed
The new board of directors, which will govern the activities provided for Tauranga City by Bay Venues Limited, has now been confirmed.
The appointees are Simon Clarke (chair), Julie Hardaker (deputy chair), Adam Lynch, Jeremy Curragh and Nick Lowe, who were among 49 people who lodged expressions of interest in the board roles. They formally take up their positions on 1 July and join the sixth director, Gareth Wallis, Tauranga City Council general manager: community services, whose appointment was confirmed last month.
Simon Clarke is a Tauranga local and is the owner/director of Matua Governance. He brings a strong governance background to the role, which includes being the current chair of Priority One and BayTrust's Investment Committee. Simon also has an extensive executive management background, including serving as chief executive of Meridian Energy subsidiary Arc Innovations, and senior executive roles with Trustpower Limited.
Julie Hardaker is a former mayor of Hamilton and is the current chair of the Environment Protection Authority, a role which has seen her champion Matauranga Māori projects. Her local government background gives her an in-depth understanding of the public/private/community requirements of council-controlled organisations.
Adam Lynch is an events and tourism industry leader who brings a wealth of hands-on experience to the board. He also has a strong understanding of health and safety policies and procedures.
Jeremy Curragh is currently managing director of accounting firm, Findex. He is a Tauranga-based business executive whose governance career includes serving as a Super Rugby franchise director and director of netball's Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic.
Nick Lowe brings continuity and experience as an existing Bay Venues director. He is the current Chair of Beds R Us and has acknowledged strengths in strategic analysis, organisational performance and community governance.
Rotorua Canopy Tours' world recognition
Rotorua Canopy Tours' original canopy experience has been voted as the number one nature activity in the world by TripAdvisor.
Canopy Tours have been awarded the win based on their long history in exceptional visitor experience.
The company shares its experiences delivering a complex and long-running pest eradication programme in the Dansey Road Scenic Reserve of their own volition since 2012.
These efforts have seen thousands of rats, stoats, and possums removed from the forest through the use of Goodnature A24 traps and DOC 250 traps.
As a result of this, the rejuvenation of the native flora in the forest has been wildly successful, with rare native plant species being rediscovered in the forest.
The benefit to native birds and reptile species has also been outstanding, with rare native species like the striped skink returning to the forest, alongside a massive increase in native bird populations in the area.
They consistently see Long Tailed Cuckoo (Koekoea), Native parrots (Kaka), and the NZ Falcon (Karerea) in the forest.
TripAdvisor has been a platform guests shares their experiences about Canopy Tours (and over 400,000 tourism activities worldwide) over the last nine years, they have nearly 5500 reviews and a staggering 97 per cent of them are five stars.
Canopy Tours general manager, Paul Button says it's an "absolute honour" to receive such a prestigious title".
"There are so many amazing activities in NZ, let alone the world. It is absolutely humbling to be considered in the top 10, let alone to be named number 1.
"This award is a fantastic way to recognise the work that our team puts in, and of course to showcase how our guest's decision to go on a tour with us, in turn, benefits the forest."
We're celebrating the best of New Zealand as we head into the 2024-25 summer.