American Honey Institute will advocate, set standards for industry
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Why was the American Honey Institute created and what problem does it aim to solve?
Hello, this is Morgan Chulsom with the Kansas Reflector. Welcome to our podcast. Today we're going to be talking about honey. Did you know that the United States consumes 700 million pounds of honey a year, but we only produce about 125 million pounds? I had no idea, and I also didn't know that imported honey sometimes contains cheap sweeteners. It's actually considered the third most economically motivating. I'm here with Brian McCornack, an entomologist from Kansas State University, and Gary Lagrange, a beekeeper and veteran who is the CEO of Valor Honey. We're going to talk about the importance of bees in general and the importance of creating a system to monitor imported honey as well as all of the honey produced in the United States.
K-State, along with Valor Honey, the American Honey Producers, and the American Beekeeping Federation, have joined together to form the American Honey Institute. Welcome, Brian and Gary. Thanks for joining me.
Yeah, thanks for having us. Welcome.
Let's start by talking a little bit about the decision to create the American Honey Honey Institute. How did that come about?
Sure. Well, we've been in uh we've been uh seeing students and helping soldiers and veterans now for 14 years. And uh as we moved along, we discovered that um as they wanted to get out into the honey industry, it was difficult for them to do that if they wanted anything to scale. They could small sell small quantities, uh, but uh to get into the commercial industrial side was difficult. difficult to them because um because the uh price of honey was so low. They couldn't compete with the honey that was being put on the market by Packers because um they were buying and selling foreign honeys that came in uh very cheaply, most of which uh most mo and most of that was adulterated. So um Um, we also discovered that that the um industry as a whole did not have the power as other commodities have.
Um wheat and soybeans and corn and cattle uh was uh a bit more ad hoc. And um and so uh actually four years ago in Sacramento at one of the national um uh American honey producers meetings, we decided that something should be done about that. And uh we talked about opening an institute then but that would have the five elements that we have today and discussed how we should go about doing that. Um, in fact, it was named there. Um, one of the one of the uh co-owners of the largest uh beekeeping operation, or one of the largest in this country, Kelvin A. D. said, why don't we just name it the American Honey Institute? And so that's where it's come to be. In the meantime, we discovered um we discovered uh and built built this relation with Kansas State University.
That's been been from from Bower Honey's point of view, a godsend. Um it brings uh it brings uh expertise and passion and um and resources that we wouldn't have had otherwise. So so uh it came to be because of the problems in the industry. One, these are dying off, and they have been for some years. And if we don't tackle that, it's going to be as difficult a problem to face for the honey producers as is the baked honey that's coming in or the yeah. So uh so uh K State offers that research capability that we didn't have internally, uh nor does it exist out in the honey industry itself. So um that too was a godsend. The communications ability for K State to help us reach out. And inform people. Um one it has the credibility that that uh little old Valor Honey and the industry doesn't have.
And two, it has the uh resources to help us with that. Um and so and so um the the relationship just helped this thing to flourish and grow. We still have a ways to go, but we've come uh come much further ahead with K State and Brian in this than we would have otherwise. And I and I have to say Brian because not everybody can catch the passion like he has and builds it into his program the way he has. So um Deeply thankful for K State and particularly Brian for for all that he's done to help us.
Brian, can you talk a little bit as an entomologist why it is so critical that we address the importance of bees to our environment and, you know, what is currently happening that we should be concerned about?
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
Why was the American Honey Institute created and what problem does it aim to solve?
0:00–5:57
2
How did veteran‑owned Valor Honey and K‑State partners identify the need for industry standards?
5:57–12:39
3
What are the biggest challenges facing U.S. honey producers today?
12:39–18:21
4
Why is bee health critical for pollination and the broader food supply?
18:21–23:47
5
How does adulterated (sweetener‑spiked) imported honey impact consumers and beekeepers?
23:47–29:41
6
What testing and labeling standards does the Institute propose for authentic honey?
29:41–33:06
Speakers
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