"Beekeeping, or apiculture, is abuzz in the Bluegrass. According to Phil Craft, the state apiarist with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, there are over 3,000 beekeepers across the commonwealth.
Over half of Kentucky's beekeepers are considered hobby apiarists. These hobby beekeepers have five to ten hives in the backyard to experience the joy that comes with one of the oldest forms of food production. They enjoy watching their hives develop and harvesting the fresh honey each year to share with their friends and family.
A growing number of Kentucky's beekeepers are discovering ways to make their hobby profitable, by selling their fresh honey at farmers markets.
Then there are those who have taken beekeeping beyond a sideline business and have turned their love of bees into a full-time profession.
Commercial buzz
Rick Sutton has been in the bee industry for over 30 years. Unlike the traditional beekeepers in the state who have focused on solely the honey as a form of revenue, Rick has expanded his operation to provide pollination service with his bees.
His bee operation is based in Garrard County, but Rick's bees can be found throughout the Bluegrass and beyond, depending on the time of year.
"For me, being mobile is important," Sutton explained of his operation. "I keep my bees in Kentucky as much as I can, but I have learned to diversify in the winter months by taking the bees to other areas, such as Florida."
This year, Sutton even took some of his bees all the way to California to provide pollination to the almond crops. Over 1.2 million beehives are used every February for the almond pollination — that is more than half the honeybees in the U.S. today.
Sutton has found that, on average, he makes good money for providing his pollination services, but it also has the extra bonus of producing a diversity of honey varieties to sell.
"I keep my honey flavors separate for bottling," explained Sutton. "We have found that people love our Florida orange honey; it allows us to fill a niche market in honey sales."
The niche value-added market is different from Sutton's traditional approach to selling a large volume of honey when he had his contract with Kroger.
When Kroger dropped his contract a few years ago, Sutton chose to go down the niche market avenue and is seeing growing success.
"People are beginning to realize the value of fresh and local honey that hasn't been processed so much," said Sutton.
Honey of a deal
Abigail Keam began her passion with bees in 1996 as a hobby beekeeper. In 1999, her love of the industry grew into a full-time business for this entrepreneur with the creation of Abigail's, LLC.
"As a child, I learned to develop products from my grandmother," said Keam as she talked about starting Abigail's. "After my asthma attack, I started to develop my own product line using the honey and wax from my bees."
Keam said when she started selling her local products, most people wanted honey as a sweetener. Yet that attitude has changed over the years as the interest in local foods has grown, and more people understand the medicinal purposes of honey.
"I try to find organic farms in the areas for my bees, so that the odds of the bees being exposed to pesticides are limited," explained Keam. "Right now I have thirty hives on my farm and two other area farms."
Abigail's local honey has become a favorite to visitors at the Lexington Farmers' Market, and that is where Keam sells over 90 percent of her products. As a locally produced honey, it has become a natural alternative to traditional allergy medicine for people living in the area.
"I find in Lexington that the consumer is now very aware of honey, and they have particular tastes," said Keam. "They are connoiseurs that understand the variety of flavors from white clover to buckwheat, and they know what they want."
The Abigail's product line does not stop at honey. Keam has created a line of products from skin care items to candles using the honey and wax from her bees.
The wax alternative
Heidi Sanner began her beekeeping products venture in a quest for a more natural and serene way of life. Now, this former CPA has turned an 83-acre family farm and beekeeping hobby into a thriving beeswax candle business.
Candle Bee Farm is commerce with a conscience, according to Sanner.
"It is my opportunity to pull from all areas of my life — my business experience, love of nature and organic lifestyle — and create products that are good for people," explained Sanner. "It is very rewarding."
Sanner creates her unique, 100-percent beeswax candles using molding techniques developed by her ancestors and a specialty beeswax press of her own design.
In the beginning, all the candles were created with beeswax from Sanner's hives, but the demand for these all-natural, beautiful candles quickly exceeded the wax production of the family farm. Sanner purchases raw wax from select beekeepers in the area that keep their bees in areas of organic and all-natural production to limit the contamination of pesticides and chemicals in the wax.
"I'm happy to be involved in a company that promotes natural beekeeping, enhancing the environment and supporting organic horticultural efforts," said Sanner.
Sanner's belief in supporting others does not just stop with other beekeepers. A portion of the proceeds from Candle Bee Farm candle sales are donated to charities benefiting children and various nature and wildlife concerns.
Impacting the buzz
In the last eight years, Craft has seen a maturity in leadership in Kentucky's bee industry. He credits this leadership to bringing Kentucky beekeeping to a new level by helping to raise awareness of the products and industry in Kentucky.
Craft and other industry leaders recognize the positive impact that Kentucky Agriculture Development Fund investments have had on the growth of Kentucky's beekeeping industry.
Many of the new and growing beekeepers in the state have received small grants to expand their operations. Beekeepers, such as Sutton and Sanner, have received county and state grants to expand their operations by partnering with other Kentucky producers to provide additional marketing opportunities for bee products such as honey and wax.
Kentucky State University now has mobile honey extraction equipment funded through an agricultural development fund grant, which can be used by beekeepers across the state to provide a cost-effective means to extract and bottle honey.
Another important development to Kentucky's bee industry came with a grant to the Kentucky State Beekeepers Association that has allowed the organization to train Kentucky beekeepers to raise queens. Beekeepers with this unique skill now provide other beekeepers with locally reared queens, which are better suited for Kentucky's climate and other environmental issues that can impact the viability of a hive.
Bright bee future
The Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) has yet to be seen in Kentucky's bee colonies, but area beekeepers are aware of the devastation this type of disaster can have on their operations and the industry.
Concern surrounding such issues as CCD is why Craft and Dr. Tom Webster at Kentucky State University work with beekeepers across the state to monitor colonies in an effort to identify and control any disease outbreaks in Kentucky.
"The concern of disease has also made Kentucky beekeepers recognize the benefit of having a local source of bees for natural replacement of their hives," explained Craft. "That is why the queen project has been so important; though it doesn't completely eliminate the instance of disease, it is an effort to help prevent bringing diseases into the state."
Kentucky bee industry leaders do not expect Kentucky to ever be a large-scale commercial bee state, like California or Florida. Yet recent growth in industry from the production side and growing awareness of the products on the consumer side have created a strong foundation for the future.
The buzz on CCD
Phil Craft, the state apiarist with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, talks with Kentucky beekeepers on an almost daily basis and travels the state making field visits with the state's beekeepers. Here is what he has to say about Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in Kentucky:
My opinion is that there is no evidence that CCD has occurred in Kentucky. And without doubt, it is not becoming a problem. Hives around the state are looking very good now.
We did suffer heavy winter losses last winter, but we had two major facts that caused that. We had one of the worst nectar flows in Kentucky in over 20 years last summer, and that impacted the hives for the upcoming winter. We also had unusual weather. The mild winter weather in early winter, which can cause bees to consume even more winter stores, an extended period of very cold weather in March, and the killer freeze in April.
Virtually all the Kentucky beekeepers with whom I've talked who suffered heavy losses last winter tell me that the cause of their losses was starvation. All of the experienced larger producers whom I have spoken to report this as well.
It is true that some beekeepers are saying that they believe their losses are unexplained, and therefore conclude that they must be due to CCD. But there is no evidence that their losses are due to CCD, and starvation and poor hive conditions do appear to be the more likely cause.
The cases nationwide that have been "clearly" identified as being labeled as CCD occurred last fall when there was capped brood (the final stage of development of un-emerged bees) in the hives. We have not had cases of hives with capped brood in hives, and no bees.
Can I absolutely say that none of these losses were caused by CCD? No, I cannot say that. But what I'm convinced is that our losses are explainable, due to the conditions that I've described.
Kentucky's hives are now looking great, and most beekeepers in Kentucky are producing a very good 2007 honey crop. I have about 75-100 pounds of honey on each of my hives right now, and most of the bee yards of other beekeepers I've been in recently are similar.
Local bee products on the web
Candle Bee Farm
www.candlebeefarm.com
Abigail's, LLC
www.abigailsoap.com