New Zealand: North Canterbury beekeeper calls for different approach to American Foulbrood after burning $2m of bee hives

A north Canterbury beekeeper is calling for a change in disease management after he was forced to destroy more than $2 million worth of product. Springbank Honey was ordered to burn 10,000 boxes of what they believed was disease-free honey and bees, after inspectors discovered American Foulbrood Disease (AFB). "This is just breaking us. We work until 10:30pm at night, my son is in tears, you want to watch literally everything we did go up in a bonfire," said Steven Brown, owner of Springbank Honey. Brown told Newshub inspectors had detected spores of AFB in two beehive boxes and gave Springbank Honey seven days to burn 10,000 of them. They contained more than $2 million worth of honey. Brown says AFB does nothing to the honey, it only affects bee larvae. He should know - he's been in the industry for over 30 years and is a former apiary inspector himself. Brown says he spends up to $50,000 every month testing his product, and he believes he's been unfairly targeted. "I know they ...