Business Central July 2021

44 | “Placement of their hives are pinpointed precisely to the centre of some of the purest stands of manuka in some of the most pristine backcountry locations.” Tararua - The True Honey Company The recipe for Manuka honey success T T Sue Russell The True Honey Company produces a range of the world’s highest rated premium Manuka honey products. REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT J im McMillan leads a company dedicated to producing the world’s finest Manuka honey, extracted from bee-hives placed in very remote locations throughout large tracts of New Zealand’s remote back country. The True Honey Company based in the Oringi Business Park at Dannevirke, started life in 2013 and, for Jim, who as a professional helicopter pilot spent years flying over pristine native country, the development of the honey business was fulfilling a passion he had long held. Jim says there are a number of factors contributing to the growth and success of the company, including strong and long-standing partnerships with land-owners. “Back in the early days we went about culti- vating these valued relationships,” he says. “We held a workshop with land owners to learn what it was that they wanted to see in the honey business. They said they would like to see a greater level of transparency and visibility of the production chain.” From this Jim and his team set about de- veloping a proprietary software programme “TRUEVIEW” to give to their landowner part- ners the ability to view all information relative to the Manuka honey produced from their land each season. Acknowledging at that time there was a lot of misgiving from land owners toward honey producers ,Jim set about to create trust through transparency in terms of the honey gathering and processing operations. Beyond this, today Jim says he feels the industry has come a long way to overcome those darker times and significantly a turning point was when MPI introduced a definition for Manuka honey. “Before this there wasn’t anything stated so anyone could basically say their honey was Manuka. “Today the industry is certainly maturing, as are the expectations of our customers, from here and throughout the world.” The True Honey Company produces a range of the world’s highest rated premium Manuka honey products, including their ‘Rare Harvest’ at an astounding 1700 MGO. It has also pro - duced a honey rated at 1900 MGO that was exclusively sold to Harrods in London. Jim says there are several factors behind their ability to produce the standard of honey they do. ”Placement of their hives are pinpointed precisely to the centre of some of the purest stands of manuka in some of the most pristine backcountry locations. “We also move the hives very carefully ac- cording to the season, starting at North Cape and extending to the Golden Bay area.” Honey production starts in the Far North around August and finishes in Late February or early March. The True Honey Company employs 36 full time staff and up to another 20 casual staff during peak work periods, across a whole raft of disciplines, from apiary managers, a Queen rearing division, a logistics team coordinating with the managers. “There’s a lot involved in having the right number of hives, placed where they need to be at the right time.” Currently the company places around 6,000 hives but doubles that number in terms of placements. Given that most of the honey is exported Jim and his team have been working closely with NZ Trade Enterprise to further develop new export markets for Premium NZ Manuka honey. Jim says that underpinning the company’s successful journey has been a lot of hard work and especially the fact the whole team are extremely passionate about the production of ultra high-grade Manuka honey. “Today in particular people are more and more conscious of responsibilities to their own health and there’s a growing body of evi- dence as to the benefits that come from high potency Manuka honey. “This extends from general health and well-being into skin-care and wound healing as well.” Through its partnerships with land-own- ers The True Honey Company engages with private landowners, Iwi groups and also works closley with the department of conservation. Jim says these relationships are highly val- ued by him and the team. “They are absolutely critical to our success. We feel it is very much a partnership, not just us using their land to place our hives.”