Blog post written by Jessica Goodman
This week we had the pleasure of visiting Beechworth Honey in the town of Beechworth, Australia. What a great opportunity it was for us to visit a small business that is the second largest player in the honey industry with close to 15 percent market share. We talked with the CEO, Sara Quon. Sara has a fascinating background, having worked as Marketing Director & CEO of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and in New Zealand’s dairy industry prior to joining Beechworth. Beechworth Honey is a family-owned business, Steven and Jodie Goldsworthy come from four generations of beekeepers in northeast Victoria, and their family has been selling honey to Aussies for about 120 years!
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I really admire how committed Beechworth Honey is to its core values, giving back to the community, and safeguarding Australia’s biodiversity. Beechworth Honey regularly advocates to the community about the role that honeybees play in food production and participates in a number of other sustainable initiatives with local partners.
Sara told us some alarming statistics during her presentation to our group. Sixty-five percent of Australia’s agricultural produce is pollinated by honeybees (such as avocados and kiwifruit). Yet, Australia faces the constant threat of a varroa mite infestation through their shipping ports. These mites transmit dangerous diseases to honeybees. Once a population of honeybees is infected, it needs the help of beekeepers to survive. Infected honeybees cannot live in the wild. Honeybee populations in the United States and other nations around the world have already been infested with varroa mites.
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To further complicate the situation, the number of beekeepers in Australia has declined by 30% since 2008. And, unlike some of their competitors, Beechworth Honey products are produced exclusively in Australia. This presents a unique threat to the company. When Australia faced a drought a few years ago, the event significantly reduced the amount of products that Beechworth Honey was able to sell. At the time, the company chose to diversify the products it sold to customers while holding true to its core values. Beechworth Honey chose the socially responsible path, which is certainly commendable. Sara told us that many Australian consumers are unaware that the honey they purchase from their competitors may not actually be honey at all.
Our time at Beechworth Honey with Sara, in my mind, really underscores the importance of being an active and engaged consumer. It is important to understand how the goods we purchase are made – especially the ingredients that go into the food we eat. The visit certainly gave us a lot to think about, and we were sure to stop by the shop to buy some honey on our way out of town!