The hot, dry summer and the lead-up to it have given bee keepers a better honey harvest after two patchy seasons.
National beekeepers president Barry Foster said the weather from late October until now has been good for most flowering crops.
Mr Foster, a Gisborne apiarist, said that after a lean year, he's expecting a bigger and better manuka honey crop as well.
But the hot weather has also increased the risk of honey being contaminated by honeydew excreted from vine-hopper insects feeding on the highly toxic tutu plant.
