Wild Nectar Honey began as a project to pollinate another project, but as the pair discovered, much of the pollination and honey production processes are treated separately and many major honey suppliers don't own any hives themselves.

"We were looking at developing almond plantings, and one of the key things that almond plantations require is bee pollination... Rather than bringing in an external supplier and being a transactional thing, we started looking into the importance of bees and my study in that regard led to the gravity and importance of bees to the whole supply chain," Mr Corrigan said.

"To me, it became a business that I was very comfortable and motivated to be a part of."

The company took ownership of a previously family-owned beekeeping business and set to work setting up shop in Temora, looking after a small army of bees and creating their business.

The pair now describes the company as 'bush-to-bottle', and is able to identify exactly which hives their honey comes from. The honey is cold-extracted and strained, with minimal processing.

Miss Corrigan added that they still thought of themselves as a small production even as they look to expanding.

"Even though we have a large number of hives and production, we still think of ourselves as local beekeepers first and foremost."

The bees are kept on the move all year-round, going from national parks to providing pollination services and being sent to slightly warmer areas during the winters to keep production going.

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Mr Corrigan said that the importance of looking after the bees and preparing for the future was paramount, and that they saw other beekeepers as colleagues instead of rivals.

"An existential threat to bees is an existential threat to our world and our modern life. With that, it's important to have strong hives and more hives," he said.

"It's important to have a scientific peak body that researches problems we may have and looks at issues overseas ... The other thing is sharing information. Things like queen breeding, things like diversity and biology - we can all get together and share our experience. Another beekeeper is not our competitor, they're our colleague and our friend."

Wild Nectar is hoping to expand in the near future, being stocked in more stores across Australia and limiting the need to sell in bulk to other suppliers. More information about the company is available at wildnectarhoney.com.au.

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