We share the concern about the increasing number of animal and plant species bound for extinction. We started Diversity Honeys with the idea to highlight this issue by selling exclusive honeys from Asian honey bees. Industrial agriculture focuses on plants and animals with the highest productivity, and the same trend has come to dominate beekeeping and honey production: Almost all over the globe the ‘European’ honey bee Apis mellifera is used to pollinate crops and produce honey – to the detriment of all other honey bee species and pollinators. (And by the way: recent research has brought to light that even the ‘European’ honey bee, contrary to long held assumptions that it had migrated north from an origin in Africa, actually came from Asia originally, too, like all other honey bee species.)
Diversity Honeys owes its name to our friend and colleague Grant Venner. He was the brains behind focusing message and image of our company, and he also (being a hobby gardener, too) helped bring our plastic free gardening range into existence.
In the late summer of 2020 Grant died of stomach cancer.
For us, every single jar of Diversity Honey serves as a reminder to a great friend.
For the time being, Martin Kunz, who has some 50 years of experience in Fair Trade remains the sole owner of Diversity Honeys Ltd. Martin has three bee hives in London, but he leaves the bees mostly to do their own thing without disturbing them. Since 2016 he has been a trustee of the International Bee Research Association (IBRA), and he is privileged to be in close contact with Under the Mango Tree in India. He is also a ‘special correspondent’ for BeeCraft magazine. The distribution of Diversity Honeys’ product ranges is looked after by Wildlife World Ltd.
Diversity Honeys Ltd. imports and exclusively sells honeys from three close relatives of Apis mellifera, which are only to be found in Asia. These bees have co-developed with their respective landscapes and its floras, and they are of great importance for pollinating local flowers, crops, and trees. Unfortunately these indigenous bees are threatened by the global spread of Apis mellifera: Not only is this introduced species competing for their food sources, it also spreads diseases against which the local Asian bees have not had a chance to develop resistance.
By selling the honey of local Asian species we want to raise awareness that the world over every region needs its unique set of pollinators (bees, other insects, …), which have co-evolved within those regions for millennia. In order to survive and thrive, every bee species has special requirements regarding food and shelter and that is reflected in the taste of their honeys.
Diversity Honeys lets you experience their flavours.
And: For us, bio-diversity is always on our minds: During the long period it took to import those exclusive honeys, we used the time to bring to market a unique range of plastic free gardening implements: We aim to help eliminate the use of plastic implements in gardening.
In the spring of 2022 we finally succeeded in legally importing honeys into Germany via our German sister company Diversity Honeys GmbH. Importing them into and selling them in the UK, alas, remains legally impossible.
