Bay of Plenty's Mossop's Honey celebrates 70 years in business

Neil Mossop continues the honey business started by his father, and which now involves his own children.Photo/Supplied

Rheumatism and a desire to put the frighteners on some noisy party-goers played a big part in establishing one of the Bay of Plenty's largest family honey businesses.

Tauriko-based Mossop's Honey celebrate their 70th anniversary this autumn, with roots that started on the other side of the Kaimais and migrated across to the Bay of Plenty. They now have hives spread throughout the central North Island and East Coast.

Back in 1947, Neil Mossop's father Ron, who worked at Waharoa dairy factory, heard about the positive effect bee stings could have on rheumatism, because of the venom's ability to ease inflammation of joints.

"Dad decided to get a few hives and subject himself to stings while he looked after them, and sure enough he found the stings did help him with his joints," Mr Mossop said.

His father soon learned beehives could also keep other unwelcome elements away. It was the days of the 6 o'clock swill, when people would drink as much as they could and then pile out of the pub.

"We had a bunch of rowdy people who would always congregate at the end of our street once the pubs shut," said Mr Mossop. "Dad asked a beekeeper if he could put a few hives there - it soon dealt to the noisy parties."

Ron Mossop's passion for beekeeping grew, and in the early 1950s he bought 800 hives off a Te Aroha beekeeper. Over the years he worked hard building relationships with landowners, running hives in return for a generous supply of honey.

Neil and his wife Wendy continue the tradition of providing honey as well as the hive rental payments, for farmers across the Bay of Plenty, the East Coast and central North Island.

In an increasingly competitive industry where more beekeepers are vying for land for their hives, Welcome Bay landowner Colin Honeyfield said he has enjoyed a mutually rewarding partnership with the Mossops for three decades.

"They have been marvellous people to deal with," he said.

"They always give us a choice of their honey every year, and recently Neil helped put in some all weather access tracks to make it easier to get to the hives on our land."

The Mossops opened a store in 1961 on the site they continue to occupy at Tauriko.

Ron Mossop pioneered providing hives commercially for kiwifruit pollination, moving eight or nine hives at a time around on his Ford V8 truck in the early days of kiwifruit planning in the Bay of Plenty.

Meanwhile, after Neil and Wendy bought the business from Ron in 1981, honey sales expanded and they now export to 10 countries, and have developed the Natruel range of Manuka products.

The third generation of the family has now joined the business. Sons Ryan and Duane work for Mossops and youngest son Joshua works alongside with his own bee operation, Beelieve Enterprises. Their daughter Charity has also been closely involved.

Challenges

-One of the biggest challenges the Mossops faced was the varroa mite infestation, which reached New Zealand beehives in 2000, and has been costly to contain.