Meeting in Lindesberg, Fribi Honey House
- Presentation of the participants:
- Johannes: Board member of Biodlarföretagen and beekeeper Höglandets Honung AB
- Mikael Sundström: Board member of Biodlarföretagen and beekeeper Bergslagshonung
- Jonathan Sundström, Höglandets Honung AB
- Stefan Eriksson, business developer at K3 Nordic AB, system director in the KYH project
- Mats Hälldahl, strategic advisor with focus on traceability technology.
- Björn Lagerman, initiator and founder of BeeScanning Global AB
- Notes from the meeting:
- Björn gives an overview of the KYH project and the idea of creating traceability where objective documentation of honey harvesting is an important component.
- Mats relates to other traceability projects in the fishing and wool industries and talks about the technology blockchain that supports traceability of events throughout the chain from beekeeper to consumer.
- Johannes asks if everyone will be able to see everything, apropos that events are logged in the blockchain. As a beekeeper, you do not want to risk revealing trade secrets:
- Answer: The project decides what is logged and displayed and how it is made available. For example, a beekeeper does not have insight into other beekeepers’ deliveries.
- Johannes describes the Honey Analysis project, in which the Beekeeping Entrepreneurs’ Association uses collected contributions to buy honey samples from shops and sends them for DNA analysis. There is a hope that the trade will remove fake honey if the DNA analysis can detect cheating.
- Björn and Stefan presented the KYH project and the scope of the feasibility study now underway. The feasibility study aims to identify the project, engage participants and develop a plan for the development project that will develop a support for traceability of honey.
- In the proposal to KYH, there are ideas to develop functionality for a medical journal that could then also adopt the traceability technology. Johannes pointed out that he does not think that the medical record belongs to this traceability project. The group agreed.
- There was a discussion about standards and the insights the project group has gathered so far about GS1 and their standards. Johannes asked for a uniform standard for Batch No. which would be positive.
- Johannes raised the importance of compatibility with other traceability systems. For example, when mixing honey batches from different suppliers who use different traceability solutions, this becomes important. It is also important for buyers to be able to compare different suppliers who use different traceability solutions. Intertek has a solution that seems to be able to get many users, compatibility with their solution will probably be important.
- Björn showed the process ‘Honeyprofile’ which shows how objective documentation of honey harvest and AI analysis of the same creates input to the QR code that consumers can scan to get information about the origin of the honey.
- The objective assessment of the honey harvest is based on an AI model to be developed. This model in turn needs a large number of images from existing harvests including weight of harvest. Björn asked in the meeting if the beekeeping companies can be involved in collecting images for training the AI model. This opened a discussion on whether it is possible for honey harvesters to photograph the harvest on site in the apiary. There are a number of challenges and Jonathan pointed out that it can be difficult to get staff to take the right photos.
- Johannes raised the idea of photographing the honey frames in the comb room before combing. Perhaps the photography can be automated to a greater extent in the hive room and facilitate both the learning data for the AI model and the use.
- We jointly noted that we can probably have different types of ‘evidence’ data logged in the value chain depending on the conditions that exist. Some may be photographed in the apiary at harvest and others in the slush room.
- Johannes emphasised the importance of mass balance calculation. That the registered number of hives is consistent with the reported harvest. Over time, there should be a correlation that helps to reinforce that these are genuine honey harvests.
- A discussion on whether random sampling of beekeepers could be sufficient instead of advanced documentation of harvest. Sampling is based on trust as it is not possible to cover all beekeepers/farms/hives in an efficient way. The discussion concluded that sampling should be a complement to the traceability model being developed.
- Mikael reminded that there will be a requirement for a bee register that will be public. This register should be able to help the traceability solution with the mass balance calculation.
- Johannes emphasised that the bottlers must be involved in the project as they have an important role. Björn argued that it is the grocery chains that decide and that it is most important that they are involved in the project. Of course, it would be desirable to have bottler representatives as well.
- Mikael brought up that from the end of November 2024 there is a new rule from the EU that exporters to the EU must be registered.
- A discussion on the focus of the KYH project: The focus should be Sweden and Europe.
- Regarding sampling, Johannes and Mikael pointed out that it should be possible to extend the KRAV controls to include measuring e.g. the number of hives.
- Mikael came up with the idea of letting the KYH app register that beekeepers visited their apiaries automatically.
- Johannes then added that the KYH app can then remind the beekeeper to photograph their apiary. The app can also remind the beekeeper to photograph the apiaries that are missing photos.
- Jonathan wondered how it works with the QR codes on the honey jars, does each new batch need a new label with a new QR code? The project group does not think that this is the case, but here we need to learn more from GS1 to be sure how labelling works.
- Johannes raised the point of ethics. As a beekeeper, you do not want to feel that you have to prove your work, an important point to consider.
- The group discussed the cost versus benefit of a traceability solution. Björn described how he thought when he developed a description of the solution for the Swedish Board of Agriculture. According to his preliminary calculations, the cost could be around SEK 1.2 per kg of honey. At the same time, the value of honey should be able to increase by 10%, which corresponds to approx. 4 SEK per kg of honey. Mr Johannes thinks that the estimated increase in value is too high.
- A comment was made that New Zealand is a role model when it comes to traceability of honey, there may be lessons to be learnt from there.
- Mikael said that a horror scenario would be that we implement this traceability solution but it has no effect on the price of real honey.
- Continuation of the work of this group was discussed and Johannes informed that there is an industry council focusing on the buyer. A meeting of this industry council where the KYH project is presented would be a suitable continuation. Johannes took it upon himself to try to organise this meeting.
- The meeting ended with a photo of the participants at the meeting table.
At the notes Stefan Eriksson
