Honey marketing by Tennessee beekeepers

The purpose of this study was to; (1) delineate the structure of the marketing system for Tennessee honey, and (2) determine the size, scope and nature of Tennessee's beekeeping associations. A purposive stratified sample of 51 Tennessee beekeepers was personally interviewed. In addition, a mailed questionnaire was sent to each of the beekeepers' associations. The surveyed beekeepers were classified as hobbyist (1-39 colonies), part-time (40-299 colonies), and commercial (300 plus colonies). The data were analyzed using fre-quency distributions, condescriptive, cross-tabular, and breakdown information which was retrieved from the SPSS computer program. The average sample of beekeepers was 54.3 years old and owned 104.4 colonies of honeybees which produced an average of 43.2 pounds of honey in 1974. In addition to income generated through beekeeping operations, all the sampled beekeepers had another source of income. Straining, settling and heating were the predominant processing techniques and were practiced by 84 percent, 72 percent and 25.5 percent of the beekeepers, respectively. Color and moisture content of honey was checked by only a small percentage of the beekeepers, 5.9 percent and 7.8 percent, respectively. None of the beekeepers graded honey according to USDA grades. Standardization of honey through blending was practiced by less than 25 percent of the beekeepers. Labels were used by 71.7 percent of the beekeepers. Bulk 60 pound containers accounted for one-third of all the honey packed. One, two and three pound containers accounted for an additional 38.6 percent of the honey packed. The commercial beekeepers utilized the bulk wholesale outlets for 65 percent of the honey sold whereas the hobbyist beekeepers and part-time beekeepers sold 72.7 and 54.3 percent of the honey crop through retail channels. The prices received for honey sales varied considerably between wholesale and retail outlets in addition to variation within each channel. There are approximately 23 local beekeeping associations in Tennessee. The associations are involved in numerous local and out-side activities. Only one-fourth of the beekeepers strongly agreed with the idea of a marketing cooperative and only 12.5 percent strongly agreed with the idea of a supply cooperative. A substantial percentage of bee keepers had no opinion concerning beekeeping cooperatives.