Did you get your grant increase? How many boxes are you maintaining and what type of honey?
Few years ago when I was still living in Germany a local police commissioner was an Imker and had some organization he ran for it. It was pretty cool, they assisted with new ones getting granted land from the state, helped with securing the government grants, organized sales and the bio inspection.
I knew this one disabled vet really well, he was one of the many that the US government threw in the trash by medically retiring him in Europe and not sending him home. Or in other words, making him a handicap homeless vet with a pay check overseas, you know, out of US sight and out of mind.
I put him in contact with the Imker, the vet lived on 2 acres he paid for, little solar powered self sustainable farm. He ended up putting 10 boxes on his land, and the Imker helped him with everything involving the grants.
Then about a year after that I was speaking with someone I knew in Zöll in Bayern. He had asked me if I knew anyone that wanted bee boxes because their agency was getting ready to throw away like 400 boxes taken in evidence. It was that crazy case out of Slovakia that was all over the news a few years back. Guess it had closed and they where just then getting around to dumping the stuff since it did not sell at the auction site. I had a 24 foot trailer and a long bed 350 I took down and picked up boxes. These things where new, like brand new with four drawers, stands and some high pitched roof. I was only able to get 66 of them on the truck and trailer.
The Imker got 33 of them and the vet got the other half.
So two weeks ago when I was in Mainz, I drove over to that vets little farm, just to check in with him and chat a little. He said that he still has not gotten his bio approval but that he averages 43 kilograms per box a year and is up to 60 boxes now, but will not further it because of the national tax exemption plus his handicap exemption. He said that his honey is sold about 2 months before he pulls it out and he is currently only getting 12 Euro a kilogram but expects his bio to go through soon.
