Beekeeping in Hawaii dates to 1857, when the first hives were introduced from California. In 2024, honeybees and their keepers face tremendous pressures. Climate change, loss of habitat, pesticides, parasites, regulations and the threat of invasive species that affect bees are front and center.
Beekeepers I’ve spoken to are not fans of regulation. The Honolulu City Council’s Bill 64 (relating to land use ordinance) is a case in point. Beekeepers, however, are very much in favor of state regulations that enhance biosecurity. Without it, all bets are off. (Witness the recent invasion of the coconut rhinoceros beetle, which is threatening our coconut trees).
The honey production “space,” a $4-million-a-year industry in the Aloha State, is not going to compete with tourism revenue any time soon.
However, the modest income belies the impact beekeeping has on our economy. Hawaii agriculture relies on honeybees, and the Hawaii Department of Agriculture tells us that agriculture pollination is valued at $212 million per year. (Macadamia nuts, avocado, coffee, citrus and lychee are just a few of the crops that require honeybee pollination for fruit yield).
However, commercial beekeeping is not just about honey production. Queen bee production is also an important niche. Hawaii island is one of the largest queen bee producers in the world, and exporting queens to the mainland is a $10-million-a-year industry.
Recently I spoke to Waipahu-based Tadd Rienstra, one of the biggest commercial honey producers on Oahu. Rienstra has only been at it since 2017, when a friend, who had more bees than he knew what to do with, dropped off hives at his home. He evidently liked what he saw and currently runs more than 300 colonies in Waipahu and other parts of the island.
Question: Do you think beekeeping can be a viable source of income for both backyard and commercial operators on Oahu?
Answer: We have the potential to grow, but some regulations make things difficult, particularly for smaller beekeeping operations. Land use rules impede any growth for beekeepers and expanding the bee population. A year or so ago, the City and County of Honolulu wanted to do a major overhaul and change the limit on hives from eight down to six hives per (residential) lot. The rules do not specify how large the lot should be. With some of the agricultural condominiums on the old pineapple land, you might have several hundred acres belonging to one lot. To only allow six hives on a huge lot makes no sense and prevents entrepreneurs from growing their business.
Q: The Big Island has a very successful queen-rearing industry. What about the potential on Oahu?
A: The same issues challenging honey production will confront queen bee production. Rearing queens also takes thousands of hives, a huge amount of acreage and available food resources. We have the land and the resources, but they are all off limits. The large landholders like the feds, state and legacy estates hold all the land in the mountains and seem to have no interest in providing access to guys like me who merely need a strip of land next to the road a few feet wide for dropping hive boxes.
Q: Any other rules that need to change?
A: The Department of Health policy requiring a beekeeper’s honey extraction facility to meet restaurant caliber rules for extracting and then selling honey. We can sell a limited amount of honey at farmers markets without any oversight during extraction. However, who has the time to spend days in a booth hawking bottles of honey? The law does not allow me to sell to someone who specializes in marketing, packaging and bottling. We need DOH to create a set of rules that won’t bankrupt the beekeepers who want to just sell a few pails of honey to a local packer.
Q: What’s the answer?
A: We need help in getting through the wall of lawyers that are generally the first one must deal with. If politicians are serious about food security, they need a reality check. Limiting the number of hives means crops won’t get pollinated and we’ll starve. The beekeeping industry is small here on Oahu, and it has much room for growth, but the rules need to allow for growth. It will cost us nothing, and we will do all the work. Sounds like a good deal to me.
Rob Kay, a Honolulu-based writer, covers technology and sustainability for Tech View and is the creator of fijiguide.com. He can be reached at Robertfredkay@gmail.com.
