By Marcus Green
The (Louisville) Courier-Journal

Toni Downs checks her beehives in Henry County with Kentucky state apiarist Phil Craft. (Gannett News Service photo) | ZOOM |

PLEASUREVILLE, Ky. - The serpentine trail that cuts through Toni Downs' back yard in Henry County is not for the squeamish. At the end of the path, hundreds of thousands of honeybees buzz inside 12 thick boxes that resemble dresser drawers.

Downs is one of about a dozen beekeepers using a $200,000 grant from the Kentucky State Beekeeping Association to breed honey bees. The aim: Produce stocks of native bees and eliminate the need for queens to be shipped in from other states.

Beekeeping isn't as profitable as growing tobacco, but it is part of Kentucky's diversification from tobacco income.

And its primary importance isn't what one might expect. "It's not because of honey," said state apiarist Phil Craft. "It's because of the need for pollination, the need to support beekeepers in order to support the rest of agriculture."

With tobacco settlement money earmarked for tobacco growers to find new crops, land once dedicated to raising burley has been set aside for cantaloupes, watermelons and pumpkins- crops that rely on honeybees for pollination.

Disease ravaged the state's honeybee population the past two decades, but beekeeping and honey production are making comebacks. Drought pushed production lower last year, but Kentucky hives generated 234,000 pounds of honey in 2001, an average yield of 78 pounds per hive - its highest level in 25 years.

Thomas C. Webster, apiculture research and extension specialist at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, said disease also damaged the wild bee population, making the role of beekeepers critical to pollination.

"Because of that, people that are growing crops need to rely on hives - bees that are kept by beekeepers," he said. "They can't rely on just whatever wild bees there are out there in the woods or someplace near their farms."

But the cost of shipping their hives to growers' fields is prohibitive for beekeepers, Webster said. Kentucky State will use the grant to buy trailers equipped to carry hives and lease them to beekeepers.

The grant also will support advanced beekeeping education and set up "honey houses," or extraction facilities, through county agricultural extension offices.

Removing honey from hives can be a sticky process that many beekeepers do in a basement or garage. "But it's not very convenient if you've got 50 hives or 200 hives to do that," Webster said.

The niche market for regionally produced honey is growing. Research has touted the health benefits of local honey, Webster said, including a reduction in allergic reactions.

"A lot of people had an experience in which they started to consume honey that's been produced nearby," he said. "It doesn't have to be in their immediate vicinity, but within a few counties ... and have seen less problems with their allergies."

Selling honey could be the next step for Downs, who started keeping bees three years ago with a $200 investment in equipment. She has begun identifying stores that don't carry local honey.

"Right now, honey prices are high. So it's a good time to be selling honey. For years and years honey prices were low," she said. "And the problem is American honey producers are competing with overseas (producers). You've got China and Argentina as major honey producers, and they sell it cheap."

Honey production nationwide totaled 171 million pounds in 2002, down 8 percent from the prior year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Higher prices pushed the total value of U.S. honey to $222 million, an annual increase of 68 percent.