Luke Hutchinson
Professional Bee Farmer, Queen Breeder & Co-Founder
Luke Hutchinson is a professional bee farmer, queen bee breeder and co-founder of Northumberland Honey Company and Hutch Family Honey, based in Northumberland.
A beekeeper since his early teens, Luke has turned a lifelong fascination with honey bees into a career in professional bee farming, honey production and specialist queen bee breeding.
Today, alongside running the Hutch Family’s bee farming business with his wife Suzie, Luke is Vice-Chair and a Director of the Bee Farmers’ Association of the United Kingdom, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers and a Freeman of the City of London.
From Beekeeper to Bee Farmer
Luke’s fascination with honey bees began as a teenager, exploring his father’s old beehives in Northumberland. What started with curiosity quickly became something much more serious. While still at school, Luke undertook work experience with the National Bee Unit, gained experience in both apiary and laboratory work and began managing colonies of his own.
Although the bees were already becoming an important part of his life, Luke initially followed a different professional path. He studied dentistry at Newcastle University, graduating with a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS), before developing a career spanning clinical dentistry, university teaching, student mentoring and examination.
Throughout those years, beekeeping continued alongside his professional career. Colony numbers grew, Luke joined the Bee Farmers’ Association and the possibility of turning a lifelong interest into a professional bee farming business became increasingly real.
In 2015, Luke and his wife, Suzanne “Suzie” Hutchinson PhD, founded Northumberland Honey Company.
Today, the family business manages more than 400 production colonies alongside over 800 mating nuclei, producing British honey and raising thousands of queen bees each season.
Together with their children, Luke and Suzie are the Hutch Family — the bee farming family behind Hutch Family Honey.
Professional Bee Farming & Queen Breeding
Today, Luke’s work centres on professional bee farming, honey production and the breeding and selection of queen bees.
As the bee farm has grown, queen rearing and honey bee breeding have become particular areas of expertise. For more than a decade, Luke has used instrumental insemination of queen bees as part of his breeding work, providing greater control over selected genetic lines and the production of breeder queens.
The Hutch Family’s breeding programme operates alongside hundreds of production colonies, allowing potential breeding stock to be assessed under real commercial bee farming conditions.
Luke and Suzie work with selected lines including Northumberland Dark Bees and Buckfast bees, looking at characteristics such as colony health, temperament, productivity, overwintering ability, hygienic behaviour and Varroa-sensitive traits.
Thousands of queens are raised each season, both for the family’s own colonies and for beekeepers throughout the UK, alongside specialist instrumental insemination and breeding services.
For Luke, queen breeding isn’t simply about producing more bees. It is about continually selecting and nurturing healthy, productive colonies suited to British conditions and helping to create a more sustainable future for UK beekeeping.
The same philosophy extends to honey production. The Hutch Family manage the colonies, raise the queens, harvest the crop and oversee the honey’s journey from hive to jar.
It’s an approach built around something Luke believes matters increasingly to customers:
Know your beekeeper. Know your honey.
Supporting the Future of British Bee Farming
Luke’s involvement in beekeeping extends beyond the Hutch Family’s own bee farm.
He currently serves as Vice-Chair and a Director of the Bee Farmers’ Association of the United Kingdom, representing and supporting the interests of professional bee farmers and the wider UK bee farming industry.
Luke is also a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers and a Freeman of the City of London, creating a fitting connection between modern professional bee farming and a Livery Company whose history with beeswax stretches back more than 600 years.
Through these roles, Luke takes an active interest in the wider issues affecting British bee farming — from bee health, queen breeding and biosecurity to honey authenticity, provenance and the long-term viability of professional honey production in the UK.
At the heart of that involvement is a simple belief: a sustainable future for honey bees also requires a sustainable future for the bee farmers who care for them.
Luke's Current Professional Credentials
Vice-Chair & Director
Bee Farmers Association
Liveryman
Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers
Freeman
City of London
Co-Founder & Director
Northumberland Honey Co / Hutch Family Honey
Professional Bee Farmer
Commercial beekeeping, queen rearing and honey production
Queen Bee Insemination
More than 10 years’ practical experience and qualified in Queen Bee Instrumental Insemination
Industry Speaker and Educator
Regular speaker on professional bee farming issues, queen rearing, honey bee breeding, British honey and the challenges facing the UK bee farming industry, contributing to industry events, conferences and beekeeping organisations nationally and internationally.
Previous Roles & Experience
Previous Clinical & Academic Experience
Before moving into professional bee farming full-time, Luke had a career in clinical dentistry and dental education.
A graduate of Newcastle University with a Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS), Luke subsequently held clinical and academic roles including Staff Grade Dentist in Special Care Dentistry and Clinical Fellow at Newcastle University.
Alongside his clinical work, Luke was involved in undergraduate and postgraduate dental education, including serving as a Personal Tutor to undergraduate dental students, contributing to examination committees, and involvement with the postgraduate examination committee for Newcastle University’s Postgraduate Diploma in Conscious Sedation.
This earlier career developed experience in science, clinical decision-making, teaching, assessment and mentoring — skills Luke subsequently brought with him into the very different world of professional bee farming and honey bee breeding.
Previous experience includes:
Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS), Newcastle University
Staff Grade Dentist in Special Care Dentistry and Oral Surgery (PG Dip Con Sed)
Clinical Fellow, Newcastle University
Undergraduate and Postgraduate dental teaching
Personal Tutor to undergraduate students
Undergraduate examination committee
Postgraduate examination committee
Postgraduate Diploma in Conscious Sedation examination committee
Meet the family behind Hutch Family Honey
