Beekeepers serve US agriculture by providing ~$20 billion in pollination services annually for 35%of crops grown

The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded a $749,999 Project Grant to Michigan Integrated Food & Farming Systems under the Enhancing Agricultural Opportunities for Military Veterans Competitive Grants Program (CFDA 10.334).

The grant funds the expansion of Michigan State University's Heroes to Hives program, the nation's largest beekeeping education initiative. The program will add hands-on educational sites in Minnesota, Nebraska, and Missouri, and develop new online modules covering small business development, financial risk management, and opportunities in the commercial beekeeping industry. Since 2015, the program has trained nearly 1,000 alumni operating over 4,000 beehives across the U.S. Expansion aims to further support veterans in starting beekeeping businesses, diversifying existing farm operations, and pursuing employment in the sector. The three-year award runs from September 1, 2021 through August 31, 2024.

In recent decades, honey bees have been experiencing high rates of annual loss, making education key to profitable beekeeping. In 2015, michigan food and farming systems, michigan state university and BEE wise farms LLC developed and launched the heroes to hives(H2H) program. Currently, H2H is a nation's largest beekeeping education program with NEARLY1,000 alumni operating over 4,000 BEE hives across the US. H2H uses a 9-month hybrid educationprogram that takes students through a year of beekeeping training using a self-paced onlinecertificate program that is coupled with hands-on educational experiences at seven locations inmichigan. In 2021, program enrollment has increased to over 7,000 participants coming from all 50STATES, US territories (except samoa) and active duty personnel participating from asia and europe. This extreme growth has necessitated program expansion to meet the needs of our growing studentenrollment. This proposal seeks to expand the current program to include: 1) hands-on educationalsites in minnesota, nebraska, and missouri, 2) new online educational module covering smallbusiness development/marketing, 3) new online educational module on financial/personal riskmanagement, 4) new online educational module on working in the commercial industry, and 5)resources and outreach materials connecting students to USDA programs and services. We expectthat through expansion of the H2H program we will support veterans owning their own smallbeekeeping business, diversifying existing farm businesses, and finding employment in thecommercial industry.