Summary
Over 200 beekeepers from Georgia and surrounding states are enrolled in the Georgia Master Beekeeper Program. This four level program is not only increasing the knowledge of the participants but preparing them to be apicultural ambassadors and instructors.
Situation
Each year 125 to 150 beekeepers attend the Young Harris Beekeeping Institute. This program offers comprehensive training for beekeepers at all levels of expertise. The participants go home with the latest research knowledge to aid them in maximizing their profits and managing their hives. But for many this is not enough to satisfy their appetite for apiculture.
Many of the Beekeeping Institute participants expressed a desire to enhance their beekeeping experience by becoming public educators and ambassadors in the ever growing area of apiculture as well as specializing in specific areas of beekeeping which can further their profitability.
Response
The Georgia Master Beekeeping Program is an in-depth, four level educational series that tests knowledge and skill in beekeeping and required public service work in beekeeping. Working through the four levels, from Certified Level Beekeeper to the Master Craftsman Level Beekeeper, is intensive and takes a minimum of five years to complete. The Master Craftsman Level is the academic equivalent of a Masters degree in apiculture from a major university. Therefore the participants are dedicated and highly motivated beekeepers who wish to publicly serve the beekeeping community as well as become masters of their craft.
The Georgia Master Beekeeper Program is an integral part of the Young Harris Beekeeping Institute. Mr. Robert Brewer, Towns County Extension Coordinator, is the Program Coordinator and Dr. Keith Delaplane, UGA Extension Apiculturist, is the program Technical Advisor.
Impact
Beginning in 2002 Young Harris Beekeeping Institute included the Georgia Master Beekeeper Program for those beekeepers who wished to enroll. The response was more than expected.
Forty two participants attended two days of instruction and passed both a practical and written exam to become the first Certified Level Beekeepers in Georgia. A third day of instruction was added in 2003 to allow participants to receive instruction for the Journeyman and Master Level Beekeeper levels of the program. Each year the majority of the Young Harris Beekeeping Institute participants are involved in the Georgia Master Beekeeping Program. The distribution of students being primarily in the Certified and Journeyman levels of the program. Apiculture is a Seventy Million Dollar industry in Georgia, including honey, hive products and pollination. Pollination by Georgia bees help insure a bountiful harvest of the state's Seven Hundred Million Dollar fruit and vegetable crop. Through their work as lecturers, TV and radio guests, newspaper and magazine article authors and local authorities, Georgia Master Beekeepers are quickly becoming the public educators and ambassadors that help to keep beekeeping alive and profitable in Georgia. It was a Georgia Master Beekeeper who helped to diffuse public concern following the tragic death of a South Georgia resident who disturbed the first documented colony of Africanized bees in the state.
State Issue
Agricultural Profitability and Sustainability
Details
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Year:
2011
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Geographic Scope:
National
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County:
Towns
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Program Areas:
- Agriculture & Natural Resources
