Owner To Owner Podcast Ted Allender from ERA Nurseries talks about the current state of the manuka honey industry
@TedAllender is a co-owner of ERA Nurseries. Born and raised in #Adelaide, he set up a nursery in Adelaide Hills in the mid-1970s, which operated for 20 years.
Set up ERA Nurseries in #Hamilton. Took an increasing interest in the selection and breeding of #eucalypt species for #woodproduction which grew like topsy turvy because of #managedinvestmentschemes. After they fell over looked to diversify the business into the #manukaindustry.
In our discussion Ted gives us both a history and an update on this exciting industry covering;
- how a university professor discovered by accident that the honey from #manukaplants had a great #therapeuticvalue and could #sterilisewounds
- the ongoing #legalbattle over #manukanamingrights
- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-13/honey-wars-summit-manuka-new-zealand-trademark/100064228
- (think the #French with the battle over the name #Champagne)
- going to #NewZealand into 2014 and seeing how massive the industry and coming back thinking why aren't we doing this?
- how all of a sudden #Manuka had become their most valuable native plant
- how funnily #NZ wasn't saying that a couple of years before when it was considered a #noxiousplant - that they couldn't get rid of it, that spread once they started clearing the land.
- the theory that #LeptospermumScoparium got to #NZ via #albatrossdroppings in small quantities and spread through campfires and windrowing to create pasture for sheep
- the @LandlineTV program that ran in 2015 that posed the question 'why aren’t we doing something with it?' and that sent ERA's phones off and crashed the website
- meeting academics from @UniversitySunshineCoast and spending time together working collaboratively in order to #commercialise @AustralianLeptospermum
- how many of our 163 Leptospermum Australian species (about 50%) were bioactive i.e. had that manuka components;
- #METHYLGLYOXAL (MG)
- #dihydroxyacetone (DHA)
- his work on identifying which species were most likely to thrive in cultivation and his travels to collect plant material and nectar
- his current focus on two species (those that are widely distributed geographically) in the business
- where the industry is in Australia today
- the mismatch between production and consumption and the estimated global levels of #fakemanuka
- the need to move to grow plantations and to repurpose #derelictvineyards and #derelictbluegumplantations
- how #Leptospermum can be planted in with other crops and work well with #sheepfarming, #turkeyfarming
- how the actual product is, is being used by militaries around the world and The @NationalHealthService in England uses it to treat wounds as it works where antibiotics don't work anymore
- how #bioactive the very best Australian Leptospermum are
- the ongoing 'battle' #acrosstheTasman, #acrosstheditch
- at the other end of the spectrum the 1000s of people that are planting 50, 100, 200, 500 plants
- the issues around #bees and #beepopulations globally
- #Beekeepers
- #manuka honey
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michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.au
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