Bee School by Beechworth Honey
Learning about bees is a lesson for life
Sparkling Honey Drinks
Make the swap for a naturally sweetened alternative
An Award for Bees & Nature
Celebrating Jodie Goldsworthy AM
Stay With Us
Beechworth Honey accommodation
100%
Always! A statement we make for a very important reason.
The summer of 2025 signals a crossroads for Australian beekeepers and in fact beekeepers from all around the world.
Sadly the vast majority of Australia’s beekeepers are questioning their future as beekeepers. Similarly, this is happening all over the world. Beekeeping globally is in the most precarious position imaginable. And sadly the vast majority of grocery and retail traders are largely either ignorant of or complicit when it comes to the situation of beekeepers.
Beekeepers are caught in a pincer. A pincer is a military term used to describe two confounding attacks leaving the defender largely helpless to survive. For beekeepers the reality of seeing the dreaded varroa mite move into their hives is devastating. The stronger more resilient of Australia’s beekeepers can and will learn to live with varroa. They see their global counterparts living and continuing to exist with varroa so they can see that it will be possible to do so. These strong and courageous beekeepers have begun to refocus their hive management practices to take into account the new methods needed to manage varroa. This they can do.
However, the far more sinister and insidious threat they face is the ever-increasing threat of low-priced honey which is called honey in name but is actually a product far removed from a beehive. Beekeepers have all the tools they need to manage varroa but they cannot manage the
threat of imported honey which slowly takes more and more of the traditional markets for their honey. Their industrial markets for lesser grades of honey have all but disappeared. They exist in the 6% of the grocery market which has not had any price increases in recent years. None! Why? Not because the costs of production have not increased but rather because honey sits within a globally dysfunctional market where supply and demand are completely broken. Beechworth Honey competes in a market where we are at a significant disadvantage, our business model is built on 100% pure Australian honey whereas most of the honey market has created business models that fuel high profits from a product called honey in name sourced from supply chains where traceability back to the hive cannot be guaranteed.
So what do we do when we operate at such a disadvantage? We try to play the long game. We educate, we inform, we try to inspire a love of bees and make the often-overlooked links which demonstrate that bees are way more than jars of honey. Subsequently, we encourage our customers to act with good conscience. We highlight the importance of bees to the future of food, biodiversity and nature to all those who will listen.
We create premium Australian honey products and we share the unique stories that sit behind these beautiful products. We work to inspire customers to consider the true price of their
purchase decisions and the investments they make in the future when they choose to support Australian beekeepers.
There is not a day that goes by where we are not supporting and encouraging Australian beekeepers to ‘hang in there’. As their cost of doing business escalates and they try to work out how to incorporate the new costs of managing varroa mite into their businesses amidst the reality of an economically constrained dysfunctional honey market it gets harder. We are truly fearful of the cascading consequences of the loss of each and every beekeeper here in Australia and globally. We will never stop working to protect and save bees and beekeepers.
There are not many, if any retail brands whose real job is more about saving an industry, an insect and the future for us all than presenting a food product for sale. Over the last 30 years, this is what we have come to realise is our job. The alternative route of ‘fast profits’ and joining those whose business models destroy the lives of bees and beekeepers is not one we will ever take. 100% Australian honey… always! - is a statement we make for a very important reason.
In this issue, you will see some of our efforts. Our Sparking Honey Drinks are a way we can use honey that can no longer be sold to industrial customers. The breakfast cereals, muesli bars and invisible ingredients now contain the lowest priced ‘honey’ usually shipped in from China or other such questionable origins. These products are putting our beekeepers out of business. Our honey drinks offer hope to our beekeepers that we can create our own market to replace these traditional markets.
Our bee school educators inspire a love of bees and nature in the hope that generations of the future will be smarter than the current. We dream of the day that these clever young minds become supermarket buyers, informed from a young age of the critical role bees play in the web of life.
Our venture into another retail store in Healesville takes our educational efforts closer to the Melbourne population. Who, whilst at leisure, will take in our important messages and reconsider their purchase decisions on your shelves in the future.
Sometimes it’s easy to think that the tiresome work of pushing against the tide does not make a
difference and then out of blue, you’re informed that you are being recognised for your efforts through the Order of Australia Awards. This is not something that is ever on your mind. The tasks at hand are simply too great to contemplate such things.
On reflection though such recognition helps build stronger resolve. Stronger resolve to perhaps call things out louder and to work more creatively to build an even bigger army of bee and Australian honey advocates.
I hope that this newsletter and its contents make you ponder for a moment. Collective resolve is needed to change the trajectory of where the Australian beekeeping industry is headed. Opportunities abound from good conscience and smart decisions. Together we can use different thinking, and different strategies and create points of difference that make a positive difference.
Our Hive Apartment and Beekeepers Cottages are a great place to retreat and think more deeply about the positive role you and your business can play for the future of Australian bees and our beekeepers. I would be delighted to meet with you and chat about how together we can create solutions to the challenges our industry faces.
Thank you for reading and I look forward to continuing to work with you all as we continue to bring forward opportunities, innovations, solutions and strategies in our very important business relationships with you into the future.
Thank you for your support and I sincerely hope I have made you consider why I am always telling you there is no more strategically important category within the grocery industry than honey!
Jodie Goldsworthy Beechworth Honey Co-founder
We’re thrilled to announce a brand new retail experience and the newest home of Beechworth Honey opening in Healesville!
After opening our flagship store in Beechworth back in 2008, we’ve shared our passion for bees and pure Australian honey with hundreds of thousands of visitors.
Today, a second store means twice the opportunity to share our love and passion for bees, and educate more people about the incredible role they play in our lives. For you, it means twice the opportunity to visit us, to learn more about our incredible pollinators, and indulge in the world’s largest range of Australian honey.
However, new stores don’t happen without the support of our dedicated and passionate honeylovers. Without you, this simply wouldn’t be possible. You can know everyday, your support is helping to educate others and creating positive change for bees and our planet.
Our new store will be opening its doors in 2025.
Located in the picturesque Yarra Valley and only 1 hour from Melbourne’s CBD, our Healesville store makes it even easier to visit us. There is so much to do, and now even more reason to stay longer!
At our Healesville store, you will taste and experience the best of Australian honey, bringing you the worlds largest range of single varietal honeys and over 50 unique honeys to taste and compare on the Beechworth Honey tasting counter.
Learn all about bees! Our Healesville store will have our usual focus on education and awareness. Let us share our love and passion for the importance of bees and what you can do to help protect the world’s most important pollinators.
Tell your school about Bee School in 2025! We’re teaching and inspiring the next generation of bee advocates, who like you, support and value the important role bees play in pollination, thriving ecosystems, and a healthy planet.
Designed and run by qualified teachers, our students investigate the incredible journey from hive to jar and learn about the importance of bees, pollination and biodiversity.
Learning about bees means studying bee anatomy, bee biology and discovering the trees and plants honey is produced from. Become an honorary bee scientist!
Students explore our bee-friendly garden and see our live working beehive. Every session ends on a sweet note with a delicious honey tasting.
• Visit us at Bee School in Beechworth, the home of Beechworth Honey.
• Enhance the classroom experience with a Bee Education Learning Kit, designed for teachers.
• Organise a Bee School video session with one of our qualified educators.
A delicious ‘no alcohol’ alternative to sparkling wine
Naturally Sweet
Sweetened with honey, no added care sugar.
Flavours
Choose from three delicious flavours in two sizes.
We are absolutely thrilled to celebrate our co-founder, Jodie Goldsworthy, who has been appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) on this year’s Australia Day Honours List. Jodie has been recognised for her services to primary industries and, in particular, beekeeping, pollination services and food security.
To be recognised for achievements, effort and kindness is worth so much more than any financial rewards that life might bring. Richness comes from the beauty of bees and nature, people and relationships.
I will be forever grateful for the opportunities that life has afforded me and the people who have loved, helped and supported me in all I have done and for the tolerance of those closest to me as I do what I can with what I have to make things a little bit better for the future.
“This job for life does not end here - it just continues to evolve. It has to! Bees and nature will always need us as our world becomes ever more complex and challenging.”
— Jodie Goldsworthy AM
• Jodie has led efforts to protect bees and beekeepers on a global scale through her leadership with Apimondia, the International Federation of Beekeeping Associations since 2012.
• Spent 8 years as the Oceania Regional President for Apimondia.
• Worked to disrupt honey adulteration globally on the Apimondia Honey Adulteration Working Group since 2014.
• Jodie worked to help establish, and remains as a board member of the Wheen Bee Foundation, a charity dedicated to bees, research, and sustainability.
• Part of Wheen Bee Foundation’s ‘Australian Pollination Strategy’ Steering Committee developing strategies to preserve pollinators kicking off in 2025.
• Continues to mentor and empower the next generation of agricultural leaders and advocates.
• Jodie served 6 years on the Deputy Prime Minister’s Regional Women’s Advisory Council, bringing critical regional issues to national attention.
• Helped lead the ‘Food Security Needs Bee Security’ campaign, emphasising the essential role of bees in global food systems.
• Played a part as a Food & Grocery Council Board member in establishing the Grocery Code of Conduct, fostering fairer practices for food suppliers and farmers.
Experience the charm of The Beekeeper’s Cottage, a fully renovated cottage nestled on the outskirts of Beechworth.
A unique blend of history and comfort. Nestled in the heart of the historic town of Beechworth, Beechworth Honey accommodation includes the charming Hive Apartment and historic Beekeeper’s Cottage.
A beautiful, historic apartment located in the former Bank of NSW building in the centre of Beechworth.
In years past, one of the jobs of a beekeeper’s wife was to keep the tucker box full and the afternoon teas well stocked when the men were home. Jodie’s great aunt, Amy Robinson was a magnificent cook and her recipe has been passed down the generations. This is the easiest sponge that you will ever cook. It always works and is always an absolute hit!
