From the Northern Rivers to the World

What does it really take to take Australian Manuka honey to the world? 

For a business based in Ballina, in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, seeing a jar of Gather By sitting on a shelf on the other side of the world is still something special. 

In 2025, Gather By was recognised at the Business NSW Northern Rivers awards for Excellence in International Business. More recently, Gather By was named a finalist in the 2026 NSW Export Awards. 

To someone walking past an overseas shelf, it is simply a jar of honey. 

Behind that jar is a flower, a bee and a beekeeper. Then harvesting, testing, maturation, manufacturing, certification, labels, batch records, freight, customs — and eventually a customer thousands of kilometres from where the journey began. 

The bee's part is relatively straightforward. What happens afterwards is a little more complicated. 

Why Australian Manuka Honey? 

For decades, the international Manuka story has been overwhelmingly associated with New Zealand, which deserves considerable credit for developing Manuka honey into the global category it is today. 

But the broader botanical story has deep Australian origins. 

Australia has remarkable diversity among the native tea-tree plants associated with Manuka. Research has demonstrated that a number of Australian plants can produce nectar containing DHA — dihydroxyacetone — the natural precursor from which methylglyoxal, or MGO, develops in Manuka honey over time. 

For more than a decade, Gather By has worked alongside Australian researchers to better understand these plants, their nectar chemistry, flowering behaviour and potential to produce high-MGO honey. 

Through relationships with trusted Australian beekeepers, Gather By has produced Australian Manuka honey independently laboratory tested at above MGO2300. 

Not every Australian Manuka honey will reach those levels, but it demonstrates Australia's remarkable natural potential to produce exceptional high-MGO Manuka honey. 

Gather By has also applied more than a decade of learning to its Medicinal Honey Forest™ model — a community-centric approach to increasing Australian Manuka production as demand grows. 

Gather By Exported Before Australia Knew the Brand 

Gather By began exporting Australian Manuka honey in 2019 — five years before its major Australian consumer launch. 

Some of those earliest exports went to the Middle East. These can be demanding markets to enter, but they also have a long and deeply established cultural appreciation of honey. 

Consumers didn't need to be persuaded that quality honey had value. The challenge was demonstrating why Australian high-MGO Manuka deserved a place in markets where people already understood honey. 

In those early years, success might mean finding the right distributor, navigating the regulatory requirements and selling a pallet or two. 

Gather By learned export before it learned mass-market consumer marketing. 

Then, in July 2024, the business took a very different step. 

Gather By told its story directly to Australians through a long-form national television program of approximately 50 minutes, filmed essentially in one take. There was time to explain Australian Manuka, the science behind it and the Gather By story rather than reducing it to a short advertisement. 

The Australian public responded. 

That program developed into an ongoing national television presence and a rapidly growing direct-to-consumer online business. 

Julie, who leads Gather By's customer support, has now been involved in more than 10,000 customer calls and conversations — answering questions, helping customers understand different MGO strengths and providing support. She also oversees Gather By's developing AI customer-support capability. 

That Australian consumer success has strengthened the export business that began five years earlier. International distributors can now see that Australian consumers buy Gather By, return to the brand and recommend it. 

That validation matters. 

What It Takes to Deliver an Export Order 

Getting an export order is only the beginning. 

Every country can have different registrations, import requirements, labels, mandatory statements, certificates, testing requirements, tariffs and customs processes. 

The honey inside the jar might be exactly the same. The legal journey of that jar can be completely different depending on where it is going. 

Behind each shipment are Certificates of Analysis, production records, batch codes, traceability and export documentation. Gather By's food-safety and quality systems include HACCP, B-QUAL, Codex requirements, Halal certification and the registrations required for the markets in which the business operates. 

But systems and certifications don't prepare an export order. 

People do. 

Behind every international shipment is Gather By's Operations and Warehouse team in Ballina — coordinating production and stock, checking labels and batch information, preparing documentation, packing cartons, building pallets and making sure the order leaving the warehouse is the order the customer is expecting. 

And despite all the systems, technology and data behind the business, there is still something wonderfully hands-on about the final part of the journey. 

Every jar is hand packed by the team in Ballina. 

By the time the carton is closed and the pallet wrapped, much of that work becomes invisible. Somewhere on the other side of the world, however, a customer will eventually hold one of those jars — Australian Manuka honey, hand packed with care in the Northern Rivers, and perhaps with a little bit of love. 

Trust Has to Travel with the Honey 

Gather By is now taking traceability another step further through a secure individual QR authentication and provenance system. 

The system is designed to connect an individual product with authentication, batch information, testing and provenance, while helping tell the Australian story behind the honey. 

The Australian Manuka Honey Association's Mark of Authenticity provides another layer of confidence. Gather By is an AMHA member, and the mark is supported by independent laboratory testing and scientifically based criteria for authentic Australian Manuka honey. 

For an international customer thousands of kilometres from Australia, that matters. 

A barcode can identify a product. The opportunity is for an individual jar to tell its story. 

One Jar, Many Markets 

There really isn't one place called "the export market". 

The United Kingdom, Middle East, Malaysia and broader ASEAN region, United States and other markets each present different opportunities and challenges. Tariffs, trade agreements, regulations, freight, currency and consumer expectations all influence how a product reaches market. 

A recent Gather By shipment to the US represents a particularly significant step, with the business preparing to reach American consumers through retail and television channels. 

Relationships remain just as important as regulations. 

Support from Austrade, Investment NSW, the NSW Government, Business NSW and regional economic-development networks has helped Gather By with international introductions, trade opportunities and connections to buyers. 

Sometimes four words can make an enormous difference: 

"You should meet them." 

For a regional Australian business, the right introduction can open a door on the other side of the world that might otherwise take years to reach. 

What Export Growth Can Create Back Home 

Every additional jar sold creates demand for more Australian Manuka honey. 

Gather By's model is designed to meet that growing demand in a community-centric way — continuing to work with trusted Australian beekeepers while progressively increasing production through growers, landholders and the Medicinal Honey Forest™ program. 

The objective isn't simply to plant trees. 

It is to create productive Australian Manuka landscapes and a commercial model in which growing demand creates opportunities for the people and communities involved in producing the honey. 

More customers create more demand. More demand requires more honey. More honey creates opportunities for Australian beekeepers, growers and landholders — and the commercial reason to establish more Medicinal Honey Forest™ plantings. 

That is how an export sale on the other side of the world can ultimately create value back home. 

Five Questions About Exporting Australian Manuka Honey 

When did Gather By start exporting Australian Manuka honey? 

Gather By began exporting in 2019, five years before its major Australian direct-to-consumer launch in July 2024. 

Why can the same honey require different packaging in different countries? 

Food, labelling, certification and import requirements vary between countries, so the same honey may require different packaging and documentation in different markets. 

How do overseas customers know Australian Manuka honey is authentic? 

Independent laboratory testing, batch traceability and the Australian Manuka Honey Association's Mark of Authenticity provide important assurance around authentic Australian Manuka honey. 

What does MGO mean in Australian Manuka honey? 

MGO stands for methylglyoxal. DHA occurring naturally in the nectar of certain Manuka plants is the precursor from which MGO develops in honey over time. 

What does selling more honey have to do with planting more trees? 

More sales create demand for more Australian Manuka honey, creating opportunities to increase production through beekeepers, growers, landholders and Medicinal Honey Forest™ plantings. 

A Final Thought 

Taking Australian Manuka from the Northern Rivers to the world is exciting. 

But perhaps the more important story is what that growing demand can create back home — for Australian beekeepers, growers, landholders and regional communities. 

For Gather By, export isn't simply about how far a jar can travel. 

It is about what its journey can help create back where it started. 

That is the circle at the heart of Gather By. 

The more honey we sell, the more trees we plant. 

Matt Blomfield 
Founder & CEO 
Gather By 

PURE MANUKA POWER