Owner To Owner Podcast

Ted Allender from ERA Nurseries talks about the current state of the manuka honey industry

Episode Summary

Ted Allender is a co-owner of ERA Nurseries. An expert in the Manuka Honey industry Ted gives us a fascinating insight into how this global industry started and most importantly, where it's headed and how Australia businesses can benefit.

Episode Notes

@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