Expanding Career Success and Environmental Stewardship Through Beekeeping Education

View the project final report

Commodities

• Animals: bees
• Animal Products: honey

Practices

• Education and Training: demonstration, display, mentoring, networking, youth education
• Pest Management: biological control, cultural control

The community does not receive education about beekeeping in any arena. It is very important that the economic, social, and environmental aspects of beekeeping be exposed to the public. We will make a comparison between the Flow and Langstroth Hives to see if they are worth the extra cost and can make up for it in labor savings. Our program will have a minimum of a 1 acre pollinator garden to demonstrate environmental stewardship. We will demonstrate beekeeping and encourage others to get involved in the social aspects of beekeeping and support a collaborative marketing effort.

Final Project Summary:

The focus of our project was to educate the public on beekeeping, make connections in the industry, and to compare the flow hive to the langstroth hive. Education was the easy part of the project. We were able to make connections through social media, beekeeping clubs, and make a positive impact on the local school. Our students and local beekeepers are now connected to Iowa and Minnesota Beekeeping Clubs and that will enhance collaboration. We actually started to manufacture our own beekeeping equipment and this has made a great deal of connections also. There were many learning opportunities, like building parts, that became an unforeseen advantage of this project. The Flow hive comparison was the only disappointment. However, that was not due to the hive. Although our project did not attain its main goal we did achieve a great deal of success.

• Compare and contrast the Flow and Langstroth Hives for labor efficiency, honey production, and observe their hive culture.
• Create a pollinator garden at the front of our school for high public exposure and public and student education opportunities on the environmental benefits of honey bees.
• Collaborate with the North Central Iowa Beekeeping Club and other adults to create a connection between students and the community to foster the social aspects of beekeeping and encourage more people to become beekeepers and pursue careers in the industry.
• Investigate and explore marketing alternatives for a collaborative marketing effort for small scale beekeepers.