More Than Just Honey: Beekeeping Could Offer a Side Income on the Family Farm

Our newsroom runs on more than coffee and craft beer — it runs on you. Support Decorah News' local reporting today. Jars of sticky, sweet local honey are the obvious way to profit from honeybees, but State Apiarist Andrew Joseph said beekeepers can also profit by selling bees, or by moving their bees during the winter season to agricultural areas that need the pollinating work of the bees. "With some years of experience and a little finger crossing … it doesn't take much to take that hobby … and at least turn it into something that's got some wind behind its sails, that pays for itself, and in a good year, might help out with some of your other bills," Joseph said. Joseph spoke to a group of farmers Thursday in a webinar hosted by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation about diversifying the family farm. Zach Brummer, the farmer education program manager with the Farm Bureau, said beekeeping has "manageable" start-up costs and only requires a small amount of land, which makes it an attractive option for farmers and landowners looking to diversify their operations. "Given the current challenges in the ag economy, farmers have shown a growing interest in practical, value-added agriculture opportunities to diversify income, and beekeeping provides a very intriguing opportunity to explore," Brummer said in a news release about the webinar. Joseph, in addition to leading the apiary program at the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, keeps about 300 hives around the Des Moines area. This he said is above the hobby level, but is "nowhere near commercial beekeeping level" where beekeepers will have several thousand hives. At this scale, Joseph gets the rewarding tasks of harvesting honey in the late summer, but is also able to migrate his hives to local orchards and as far west as California to help pollinate various food crops. Iowa does not require a registration of all of the hives and beekeepers in the state, but Joseph said his "best guess" is that there are around 4,500 beekeepers in the state. Of those, Joseph said maybe two dozen are commercial beekeepers that have a thousand or more colonies. Joseph said it's "very common" for larger and midsized beekeepers like himself, to keep their bees in Iowa during honey season and then truck them to places like California during the cold season to facilitate the pollination that is necessary to grow many food crops. "The more we change the environment, the bigger scale we operate our – specifically agriculture – on, the more reliant we become on honeybees as pollinators," Joseph said. He said an almond tree farm in California, for example, blooms around Valentine's Day and has a pollination window across the whole farm during mid-February. "If we were going to rely on wild pollinators to get that job done, it simply wouldn't," he said. "Those trees are nearly 100% dependent on a beekeeper to bring in about two hives per acre, drop those down there in the middle of winter, hit that pollination window, do what bees do, and then get them back out of there before they have to come in with their sprays and treatments, fungicides, insecticides, things like that, to protect their crop." Almonds are just one example of crops that are pollinated by visiting honeybee hives. Even local orchards can benefit from a load of honeybees during their flowering season. Honeybee regulations are "very minimal" in Iowa, Joseph said. Most rules have to deal with protecting bee health. Notably, Iowa implemented the "bee law" in 1979 to help protect honeybees from pesticides that are toxic to the insects. This law has been updated several times since, but in essence, allows beekeepers of any size to register their hives in an online platform that then informs commercial pesticide applicators of nearby hives. Commercial applicators in those areas then have to apply pesticides that are labeled as toxic to honeybees during certain times of days when honeybees are typically in their hives rather than flitting about collecting pollen. "This isn't perfect, you know, you can shoot holes in this bee rule, but it's existed for a long time, and I'm one, certainly, that feels like it helps," Joseph said. "It helps bridge that gap of communication between the beekeeper that's trying to protect their bees and their neighbors." Small batch honey, sold directly to consumers in one pound jars, will profit beekeepers between $8-$9 per pound of honey, according to Joseph. On average, he said Iowa beekeepers get about 60 pounds of surplus, or removable, honey per hive in a season. But honey is not the only product from the hive. Producers can also sell the beeswax for a small profit, or can split up their hives and sell them to other beekeepers. Joseph said a "nuc" or nucleus colony that has an established colony and accepted queen, can sell for around $200 apiece. "Once you get good at wintering your bees, it's not difficult to make up for any losses that you've had, and then still have excess bees to either increase your numbers or sell," Joseph said. And, beekeepers can also get paid at varying rates per hive, for bringing their hives to areas that need pollinating. Getting started The biggest cost to beekeeping is buying the multilayer hives, which Joseph said typically cost between $400 and $500. It's better to double that cost as most beekeepers, Joseph included, will recommend newbies start with two hives. He said beekeeping is "all about learning the way that things should look" and having two hives allows beekeepers to compare and contrast what looks right and what's wrong in a hive. Plus, he said elements from one hive can be taken over to the other hive to help repair certain issues. New beekeepers will then need to find some bees to put in their hive, including the all important queen bee that is vital for a functioning hive. Several bills have been introduced in the Iowa Legislature to remove the sales tax on honeybees – which would bring them in line with other livestock in the state – but the measures have not made it to the governor's desk. Then, beekeepers will want to make sure they have certain tools, like a smoker, hive tool and some protective gear to avoid getting stung by the buzzing pollinators. While this might be some people's biggest concern with getting into beekeeping, Joseph said that protective gear becomes more minimal as beekeepers learn to move in tandem with their bees. "Beekeeping is, I think, a more pleasant experience as you learn how to work those bees calmly, with well intended, fluid movements that aren't setting them off," Joseph said. "You know what you can and can't do, and you can work with them instead of hiding from them." Joseph also recommended joining the Iowa Honey Producers Association, or other local beekeeping groups because much of beekeeping, he said, is tied to the local area. "Oftentimes, it is not just you on an island, it's you surrounded by beekeepers wherever you are here in Iowa," Joseph said. Get the inside scoop! Subscribe to the free DecorahNews.com newsletter and receive local news, expert analysis, and stories that matter most—straight to your inbox.