What we all know:
The College of Florida helps beekeepers throughout the state remodel their ardour right into a occupation. Backed by a $626,000 USDA Starting Farmer and Rancher Improvement Program grant, UF’s Institute of Meals and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) chosen 30 beekeepers to hitch a two-year program aimed toward constructing small companies from honey and beeswax. <https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/honey-bee/>
The backstory:
Florida is residence to five,000 beekeepers who handle about 700,000 colonies, in accordance with UF’s Apiculture Program. Whereas bees are important pollinators — answerable for practically one-third of the world’s meals sources — many hobbyists have lacked steering on turning their work into revenue.
Native perspective:
One graduate of this system, Gayle Goodfriend of Bradenton, launched Goodfriend Honey Firm <https://goodfriendhoney.com/> after years of beekeeping on the aspect of her mortgage enterprise. With eight hives and 1000’s of bees in her yard, she was producing extra honey and beeswax than she might use. This system helped her create merchandise like candles, glazed nuts, and skincare, whereas additionally educating her how one can market them on-line and at farmers’ markets. She stated, “It taught us how one can make varied hive merchandise with beeswax, it taught us enterprise plans, how one can price our merchandise. It actually made an enormous distinction to me and type of propelled me into my very own enterprise.”
What they’re saying:
“I don’t know if I’d have been in a position to do [this] had I not had the help of this group as a result of it was simply a tremendous alternative,” Goodfriend stated. She additionally hopes folks shall be aware of pesticides, which may hurt native pollinators.
Why you must care:
Honeybees are greater than producers of honey, they’re very important to agriculture and the atmosphere. Packages like UF’s not solely maintain native economies but in addition assist defend the pollinators our meals provide relies on.
The Supply: This story relies on reporting from FOX 13’s Jennifer Kveglis, interviews with UF IFAS Apiculture Specialist Amy Vu, and native beekeeper Gayle Goodfriend.
