Demand for genuine New Zealand mānuka is holding. Supply is tightening. Beekeeper numbers have fallen. The people still standing are the ones who'll shape what comes next.

Four days at Mystery Creek, alongside 132,000-odd others who came through the gates (a 20% jump on last year, and the strongest turnout in five). If you needed a signal that the rural sector is feeling optimistic again, that was it.

Mānuka Orchard's, Logan Bowyer, will be speaking at this year’s Fieldays Tent Talks on the topic: “The Future of Mānuka: Why the Best Years Are Ahead."

John Mackay from dnature diagnostics & research presented research at the Manuka Orchard Open Day, showing that hive swabbing, particularly at the entrance, can detect AFB spores before clinical signs appear, giving beekeepers time to act and protect both hives and honey.