Commercial Beekeepers in Our State’s Agricultural Economy

Honey bees and beekeepers are essential contributors to our overall state agricultural economy.  Their impact extends beyond public consumption of honey products to the key role of honey bees and other pollinators for one-third of the foods that Americans eat.  According to economic research from the USDA, beekeepers contribute 20 billion dollars to the agricultural sector.

The Louisiana Beekeepers Association and the many local beekeepers clubs throughout the state provide valuable information and services, particularly for those with possible interest in becoming hobbyist beekeepers.  Of the 734 registered beekeepers in our state in 2019, the majority of them have five or less hives.  A small percentage of our state beekeepers, though, have many hundreds or thousands of honey bee hives.   

The LBA and national organizations, such as the American Beekeeping Federation and the American Honey Producers Association, try to communicate the importance of our sideline and commercial beekeepers.  Sideline beekeepers often offer honey and hive products for sale at farmers markets, local grocery stores, restaurants, or elsewhere.  These sideliners can supplement their other income sources through managing from about 30 to several hundred beehives.  Commercial beekeepers in this state are a special breed, it seems to me, and they operate in similar and different ways as other major state agricultural producers.  

Like livestock producers and crawfish farmers, commercial beekeepers face special challenges and risks to stay in business and prosper.  Flooding with losses of many beehives in parts of the state over the last five years has harshly affected some commercial beekeepers.  Predators and pests, particularly varroa mites and small hive beetles, can result in diseases and viruses that greatly reduce the hive numbers and income potentials of commercial beekeepers.  State commercial beekeepers often provide essential pollination services for various agriculture crops, and some make more income from pollination services than honey sales.  Early in the calendar year, many state commercial beekeepers prepare for travel of their colonies to California for the almond tree bloom and massive pollination efforts there.  California and other states also have additional crops later in the year that commercial beekeepers visit and their hives pollinate.  Getting big trucks and trailers filled with thousands of bee hives from and back to Louisiana is a logistics challenge.  This transportation is a drain, too, on the honey bees hives and their health.  Commercial beekeepers must continuously monitor hive conditions and be prepared to react quickly at signs of diseases or predator threats during and long after their hives are placed among agricultural crops.        

Helping commercial beekeepers are agriculture-related government agencies and programs.  Baton Rouge, Louisiana is the proud home of The Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Laboratory.  The lab is part of the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The mission of USDA-ARS is to develop means to solve agricultural problems of broad scope and of high national priority. The mission of the Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Unit is directly involved with improving honey bee stock and honey bee management. The lab conducts applied research into problems caused by varroa and tracheal mites, diseases such as nosema, and pests including small hive beetles. Scientists there are engaged with breeding and testing honey bees for resistance to mites, as well as evaluating bee stock production processes that reduce threats such as viruses caused by mites.  For many years, researchers at this USDA Lab in Baton Rouge and the Louisiana Beekeepers Association have partnered on a Saturday in the fall to bring beekeepers and the public to the facility to learn more about recent beekeeping challenges and hive management innovations. 

Also helping commercial beekeepers in our state are federal programs to reduce sharp financial burdens due to unexpected or emergency hive losses.  The 2014 US Farm Bill authorized the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP).  ELAP provides emergency assistance and can cover certain losses due to eligible adverse weather or loss conditions.  The Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) involves financial assistance to producers including commercial beekeepers.  Commercial beekeepers have to stay abreast of changing demands, deadlines, and reporting requirements to try to qualify for and receive such emergency assistance.

Commercial beekeepers confront intense marketplace and price competition of honey imports from around the world.  Issues of the quality of imported honey have increasingly been raised, and beekeepers and honey producers associations raise strong arguments for federal authorities to monitor and respond better to deceptive honey labeling practices.  Cases of honey adulteration and outright fraud abound, particularly given that the USA still imports hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign honey that often is not subject to higher levels of inspection and quality controls.  With greater public awareness and their concerns regarding healthy food alternatives, more customers are turning toward known local and state producers of honey products. 

Commercial beekeeping is often a generational and family pursuit.  Some family names have long been associated with honey production, as well as honey bee breeding and queen rearing in our state.  The Hull family from Minnesota also began operations in much warmer northeast Louisiana prior to World War II.  The Hummer family has long had a strong presence on store shelves in northwest Louisiana.  The Bordelon family has been involved with queen rearing and sales of honey bee packages and nucs (nucleus colonies) for decades in south central Louisiana.  Wesley Card of Evergreen Honey and Merrimack Valley Apiaries has had as many bee hives in Louisiana as almost anyone in recent years, and he currently serves as LBA Vice President. Joe Sanroma of Sunshine Honey Bees is a previous LBA President and currently serves on the Executive Committee of the American Honey Producers Association.  

Veteran state beekeepers, such as Randy Fair in Mansfield and Amy Weeks in West Monroe, have traveled multiple times to Central and South America to advise local beekeeping groups there on successful commercial practices.  These trips have also involved their bringing donated equipment and supplies and conducting applied honey bee research in these very different settings.  Their visits have been partially supported by private and governmental entities here that want to assist emerging beekeeping businesses there.       

Our state commercial beekeepers, along with our state’s specialty honey bee license plate program, provide much of the funding for LBA grants and scholarships each year to university graduate and post-grad students undertaking applied research on honey bees.  Veteran and commercial beekeepers also play an important role in encouraging honey bee education programs for youth, such as 4H, and for donating hives that some of our state elementary and secondary schools have recently placed on their campuses for student learning. 

Commercial beekeepers in our state deserve as much attention and respect as those involved in any other agricultural sector.  Through better consumer education and careful product comparisons of the quality and safety of honey products, we further our own long-term health interests and assist state commercial beekeepers who create jobs and contribute to our local and state economy.