honeyland

Beekeeping has provided many South Dakota residents with a satisfying and continually interesting hobby. Others have found it to be a profitable sideline occupation. The commercial beekeeper has found that this phase of agriculture provides him with an independent and respectable way of making a comfortable living.
South Dakota’s soils, topography, and climate generally provide the essential natural ingredients for the production of sizeable crops of high quality honey. The keeping of honey bees, like all other South Dakota agricultural businesses, is dependent on the vagaries of South Dakota weather.
There are approximately two hundred South Dakotans keeping bees in the state. Around 90 of these persons maintain their bees on a commercial scale. As for total number of colonies (hives), South Dakota usually ranks in the top five states. South Dakota ranked third in 2002 with 232,000 colonies; third in 2001 with 235,000; and third in
In annual honey production South Dakota with a highly desirable, mild flavored and light colored alfalfa-sweetclover blend of honey ranks near the top of the states. In 2002, South Dakota ranked fourth with 11,475,000 pounds of honey; in 2001 the state ranked fourth with 15,275,000 pounds; and in 2000 ranked third with 28,435,000 pounds of honey.
The value of these crops in South Dakota was $16,065,000 in 2002, $10,845,000 in 2001, and $16,492,000 in 2000. These figures illustrate the amount of financial advantage to South Dakota in the form of salaries for employees, taxes, cost of vehicle maintenance, supplies, residential and commercial real estate purchased or rented in the state, and other expenditures made by beekeepers in the conduct of their operations in the state.

While the value of honey and beeswax production is a notable figure in South Dakota, the value of honey bees as pollinators of agricultural crops is vitally important. Since beekeepers in South Dakota conduct their operations primarily for honey production, there are usually no charges for this pollination service in the state. According to a Cornell University study, honey bee pollination adds $10.7 billion to the value of the crops they pollinate. Today’s intensive farming methods have eliminated the pollination provided by wild pollinating bees such as bumble bees and similar ground nesting species. Thus, the importance of honey bees as pollinators becomes greater every year. The value of this spin off benefit provided by honey bees in South Dakota provides a very valuable contribution to the state. The farm crops generally recognized as improved by honey bee pollination are alfalfa seed and hybrid sunflower seed production. Fruits in commercial and home orchards benefiting from honey bee pollination include applies, pears, cherries, plums, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, and strawberries. Properly pollinated fruits are more numerous and more completely developed. Commercial and home vegetable gardens benefit from honey bee pollination as well. Some of these crops are watermelons, muskmelons, squashes, pumpkins, and cucumbers. Production here also results in increased numbers of more completely developed vegetables when adequately pollinated by honey bees.
Wildlife
Honey bees provide another often overlooked advantage to South Dakota. This is the value of the bee’s service to wildlife in the production of food and cover. For example, the production of sweetclover seed in waste areas provides seed as winter food for pheasants and other birds, winter wind protection, and seed to maintain the plant population over the years. Another example is the pollination by honey bees of wild rose blossoms to produce the red fruits or rose hips. These hips are an important source of winter food for grouse as well as other wildlife species.