Training on Accessible Apiculture for People and Veterans with Disabilities thru Virtual and Onsite training.

Commodities

• Animals: bees

Practices

• Education and Training: extension, technical assistance, workshop

In the United States, Apiculture not only produces honey, a USDA recognized speciality crop, but provides pollination resources to farmers across the SARE Southern Region. Beekeeping revenue has been contracting at a compound annual growth rate of 6.7% over the past five years and is expected to total $624.2 billion in 2023, with profit set to reach 4.5%. However, According to data from the USDA, the number of honeybee colonies is estimated to have declined by 22% as of 2022. Our goal is to provide our beneficiaries, the historically underserved, the knowledge and skills to participate in Apiculture to increase the quality of life and independence for those with disabilities. An added benefit is the increase in honey producers that will participate in supporting the United States economy. Apiculture is a branch of agriculture that is blossoming and one of the easier branches to modify for someone with limitations.

The goal of this project is to train organizations at multiple universities and state extensions to increase the quality of life for the historically underserved by training organizations to aid the benefactors in accessible apiculture.

An Accessible Apiary is one that is specifically designed to promote safety and inclusion to all those that wish to participate in apiculture irregardless of disability. This includes considering design factors such as the material used to build the apiary, location for access, etc. By training professionals on the design of an Accessible Apiary this broadens the knowledge the professionals possess and increase the reach of apiculture to those that are historically underserved. 

This project will give a broad overview through education on accessible apiculture using the Accessible Beekeeping 501c3 YouTube channel. The YouTube channel will educate the trainers and benefactors on accessible hive types and hardware to benefit the historically underserved through the use of online instruction. This will include the knowledge to make or suggest modifications and adaptations based on the limitations presented to them. Apiculture has a large number of hive systems that are adaptable to the user, rather than having to adapt the user to the hive system.

However, the knowledge needed to be successful in apiculture is too vast to include everything in online training. Training in adaptive hardware, hive systems, and their possible modifications allows the trainer to instruct our beneficiaries adequately so that they may employ the suggestions. The organization will be able to guide the beneficiary towards success through a list of guidelines, adaptations, modifications, and knowledge gained to further the quest for mastery of accessible apiculture. This will be done using education at apiculture conferences and universities in the SARE Southern Regions.