Small-scale beekeepers are part of a thriving community that so heavily relies on cooperation and mentorship. Hobbyists and sideliners go out of their way to teach others, support local clubs and help newbies get off the ground. Yet as operations scale into the hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands of hives, a different community appears to emerge. A community that doesn’t always feel so cooperative.
OUR STRUGGLES
There are plenty of good reasons for why large-scale beekeepers hold their cards close to their chests. For one, these beekeepers aren’t doing it for fun; commercial beekeepers need to be competitive because, like any business, their livelihood is at stake. Taking an aspiring commercial beekeeper under your wing to show them the ropes could create a monster that eventually eats into your business. Other factors have to do with the nature of the job. Beekeepers don’t spend their time in an office making calls, connecting and networking with clients and vendors. Beekeepers—even the big guys—are out working the bees every day. They need all hands on deck, otherwise the work won’t get done. It’s difficult to set aside a couple hours to show a new guy how to move through hundreds of hives in a day. Beekeepers are isolated. Major operations are often located in the middle of nowhere. Even if one can arrange to spend a few days shadowing with a commercial beekeeper, driving up to Musselshell, Montana can be a major pain. Beekeepers spend far more time with bees than with people. This point may sound obvious, but it’s easy for isolated beekeepers to develop a bit of tunnel vision. Working bees is a practice in observation. Spending months on end observing nothing but your bees can cause one to forget that there are others out in the trenches going through the same struggles.
HOW CAN WE CONTRIBUTE?
Here’s my point: the commercial beekeeping community is too shut-off. We need more large-scale beekeepers to embrace the small beekeepers’ model of cooperation and mentorship if we expect the next generation to carry this industry into the future. Here are a few simple things we can all do to pitch in:
Get the word out. It’s shocking how little the non-beekeeping community knows about bees, especially the commercial side of things. Media outlets LOVE to write about bees, but so many journalists butcher the details. Let’s flex our PR muscles and educate the public about our industry. This NYT article is a good example of mostly accurate reporting.
Get active online. Younger generations go directly to Google to answer pressing questions. Most beekeeping information found online is for beginners. We need more outlets where one can learn about the challenges of scaling up an operation.
Invite younger guys to shadow. Let’s face it, small-scale beekeeping is worlds apart from commercial beekeeping. It’s important for aspiring commercial beekeepers to understand how things work at scale—knowing what to look for and (more importantly) what to ignore.
FINAL NOTE
Before I sign off, I should point out that there are many exceptions. Off the top of my head, I can spout off more than 20 big-time beekeepers whose contributions to the community far outweigh what they ask in return. Expect a follow-up post from me spotlighting some of the truly altruistic beekeepers who are devoted to building our community.