BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — The Martin County Beekeepers Association will receive up to $3,000 to establish a honeybee apiary after the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board approved funding Friday for agricultural diversification and rural development projects across the Commonwealth.

The grant was among $3.69 million approved during the board’s monthly meeting and will help transform a project that has been in development for about a year into a hands-on educational resource for beekeepers across Eastern Kentucky.

The funding fulfills a proposal first discussed in January by Martin County Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Agent Daniel Howard, who encouraged the association to pursue county agricultural development funds for a teaching apiary.

“This is huge for this Beekeepers Association,” Howard told members during the January meeting. “You have the opportunity, collectively, to use county-appropriated funds to have a Beekeepers Association apiary, where maybe we buy as many hives as you all want to buy, whether two, three or five. That will determine how much we want to apply for.”

Howard confirmed this week that the approved project is the same initiative discussed with association members in January.

“I have been working on this project and the logistics for about a year now,” Howard said.

The apiary will be behind the Martin County Cooperative Extension Office, where Howard originally proposed creating both a teaching apiary and pollinator garden.

“Anything you all want to do as a club, we can use those funds to fund that,” Howard told members in January. “What that ultimately does, nine months out of the year, everything educational that you all want to do as a group, we do not have to be sitting right here; we can go out there. We can get hands-on with it.”

The initial proposal was based on a five-hive apiary, although Howard said the association hopes to expand beyond that through additional fundraising and recent educational programs.

Over the last several months, the Extension Office and Beekeepers Association have hosted hive-building and swarm-trap workshops, generating additional revenue and interest in the project.

Grant funds will cover more than just hives. Howard said funding will purchase brood boxes, frames, supers and beekeeping equipment for hive maintenance and health management, including smokers, protective hoods and insect treatment supplies.

The project will also include fencing around the apiary, weed-control materials and pollinator gardens designed to support honey production while serving as educational and research tools for association members.

In addition, the grant will fund the purchase of a smaller honey extractor. The association currently owns a large extractor shared among county beekeepers, but the new three- to five-frame extractor will better serve residents who maintain only a few hives.

Howard said organizers expect work to begin as early as mid-July once funding is received.

The Martin County Beekeepers Association will be responsible for maintaining the apiary. Members have voted to rotate volunteer duties throughout the year and incorporate hive management into educational programming.

Howard said the apiary will allow the association to move beyond traditional classroom-style meetings and offer more hands-on learning opportunities.

“As we have worked to rebuild the Beekeepers Association since 2025, we are working hard to create more — a larger-scale beekeeping program in Martin County that creates more hands-on educational opportunities,” Howard said.

The apiary will provide a site for beginner, intermediate and advanced beekeeping programs and could draw participants from throughout Eastern Kentucky. Recent workshops hosted through the Extension Office have already attracted attendees from neighboring counties.

Howard said the project could eventually support a 4-H Beekeeping Club as well.

“A 4-H Beekeeping Club is an idea that has been tossed around,” Howard said. “Joe Maynard is one of the best 4-H agents in the state of Kentucky and is more than ready to partner with the Beekeepers Association to grow this club for our local youth groups.”

Association leaders also see the apiary as a long-term fundraising tool. Members have discussed harvesting honey from the hives and selling it at local events, with proceeds reinvested into future programming and expansion.

For new beekeepers, Howard believes the apiary will provide something just as valuable as equipment — mentorship.

“The hardest part for any new beekeeper is getting started,” he said. “There are so many questions and different answers from any beekeeper you ask.”

He said the association’s mentor-mentee program already pairs beginners with experienced beekeepers who can provide guidance throughout the process.

“The first step is now,” Howard said. “We continue to host a variety of programs at the Extension Office to show people within our community how affordable getting into beekeeping can actually be.”

Howard said the project represents an important step forward not only for the Beekeepers Association but also for Extension programming in Martin County.

“The educational opportunities are endless,” he said. “There’s nothing better than being able to create hands-on educational opportunities for our county and Beekeepers Association.”

He believes the apiary can eventually become one of the state’s premier beekeeping education sites.

“This is now the opportunity we’ve been waiting for to create one of the top premier beekeeping programs in Kentucky,” Howard said.

Howard also thanked the Martin County Agricultural Development Council for supporting the project.

“By voting to move this project forward, they are providing our community with an amazing educational resource,” he said.

For Howard, seeing the project advance is rewarding.

“This is a project that I’ve worked on for a very long time now,” he said. “Seeing it finally come to fruition and bring this amazing opportunity to our county and community is very gratifying.”