Vocational Visit (reported by Carterton Club)

Last night Carterton Rotary Club members visited "Wairarapa Manuka" where Peter Ferris talked us through his modern facility that produces active manuka honey which is exported throughout the world and used for medical purposes including American army field dressings. Peter has recently begun to extract Royal jelly as a new sideline. Royal jelly is used for a variety of ailments, ranging from psychological disorders to heart disease to anti-ageing. Your correspondent will be watching our membership with great interest. One way of reducing the [apparent] average age of the members!

The factory has capacity to serve 10,000 hives and produce 300 tonnes of honey, and can produce and purify manuka honey up to medical grade according to European Union standards, which is able to be exported anywhere in the world. Peter Ferris, who has 30 years experience beekeeping in Wairarapa, said with the factory "in full swing" it keeps 30 people in employment - two or three processing the honey and the rest as beekeepers.

Keepers are either employed directly by Wairarapa Manuka or supply from their own hives, and another service the company has begun to provide is managing other people's hives for them.

Peter has many hives scattered through the Wairarapa, Taranaki and Northland - an excellent use of grade 2 land which has reverted to, or been deliberately planted in, manuka.