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.