Pa. Farm Show: Beekeeping is all the buzz in Pennsylvania; 600 tons of honey harvested each year
Around the state, interest in beekeeping as a hobby has been on the increase.
HARRISBURG - Behind the glass, they are crawling, wings and legs in constant motion, and Kody Labella, 9, peers into a display hive at the Pennsylvania Farm Show, captivated by a rare glimpse of a colony of honeybees.
"Cool," he declares, as others crowd around him, transfixed by the motion of hundreds of bees that star in a sprawling display of beekeeping and honey products near the Farm Show's venerable butter sculpture.
The crowd seems drawn to the hive, staring for a moment to determine whether what's inside actually are living bees.
Concern for honeybees and interest in their job as pollinators of a variety of crops has grown, so much that more people are taking up beekeeping as a hobby in Pennsylvania, according to state beekeepers.
Once a dying pursuit, beekeeping has grown in the state, the result of concern about the decreasing numbers of bees and, in part, a desire for locally produced food.
Reading Eagle: Susan L. Angstadt | People can watch bees in a hive at the Farm Show, where the Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association has an extensive display.
Nationally, the number of honeybee colonies grew to 2.78 million in 2016, a 4 percent increase over 2015, according to the National Honey Board.
In Pennsylvania, the number of colonies fell from 80,000 in 1982 to about 30,000 in 2002. But interest in beekeeping has grown. Today, there are 2,000 beekeepers in the state producing 600 tons of honey each year, and honeybee pollination is valued at about $60 million annually, according to the Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association.
Locally, the Lehigh Valley Beekeepers Association, a group of beekeepers from Lehigh, Berks, Montgomery, Schuylkill, Carbon, Northampton, Bucks and Monroe counties, has grown from 90 members in 2008 to about 300 now, said Steve Finke, a Kutztown apiarist and the association's president.
"There is a lot of interest in getting back to nature," Finke said. "There's nothing bad about beekeeping. It's all natural, and you're helping pollinators at the same time."
The honeybee's value to crops is a lesson that Kody's mother, Amanda Labella, stressed as she led the boy and his two sisters to the observation hive. About one-third of all the food Americans eat is directly or indirectly the result of honeybee pollination, says the American Beekeeping Federation, an Atlanta-based association of beekeepers.
"I'm trying to teach them that even though they sting, they have a purpose," said Amanda Labella of Elizabethtown, Lancaster County.
Reading Eagle: Susan L. Angstadt | Beeswax that has been scraped off a honeycomb.
At the Farm Show, the state association is staging introductory beekeeping lectures and demonstrations on extracting honey from hives throughout the week. In the Berks region, introductory courses on beekeeping have drawn 60 to 70 people, many of them retirees or young parents with children who are looking for a hobby, Finke said.
Young people have become interested in beekeeping, in part because of the current interest in locally produced food, said Kayla Fusselman, 23, who serves as the American Honey Queen, a scholarship program of the American Beekeeping Federation.
"It's kind of trending, so to speak," the Kempton woman said. "We do have a big younger following, for sure. What's more local than your own backyard?"
Reading Eagle: Susan L. Angstadt | Gary Carns of the Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association shows honey in the combs before it is extracted.
State's honey connection
Visitors to the Farm Show can buy a variety of honey products at the state association's farmers market display, from honey candy, soap, lip balm and hand cream to beeswax candles and blocks of the wax.
Beeswax has a number of uses, including polish for furniture and as a way to remedy sticky furniture drawers.
"Honey is more than just a sweet treat," Fusselman said.
The state association has sold honey products for years, but opening day sales at this year's Farm Show are "significantly" higher than sales on the first day of the 2018 show, said Charlie Vorisek, a Crawford County beekeeper and volunteer at the farmers market display.
Reading Eagle: Susan L. Angstadt | Pieces of beeswax are visible on a strainer after it has been used for honey.
Pennsylvania has played a significant role in the history of beekeeping. Philadelphia is the birthplace of Lorenzo Langstroth, the father of American beekeeping and the inventor of the outdoor hive that still is used today.
He patented what is called the Langstroth hive while working as the principal of a Philadelphia school for girls.
It's important to get younger people interested in beekeeping to pass along the knowledge that older beekeepers have acquired, Fusselman said.
"A lot of beekeepers are older, they're very experienced and all their knowledge has to go somewhere," she said.
Contact Jim Lewis: 610-371-5059 or firstname.lastname@example.org.