Heroes to Hives program registration is open for the 2024 beekeeping season through Michigan Food & Farming Systems

Ana Heck<heckanar@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension -

Michigan State University Extension provides educational resources and hosts hands-on beekeeping workshops to veterans in the program.

Beekeepers gathered around an open beehive.
MSU Extension hosts a Heroes to Hives workshop at MSU Pollinator Performance Center in 2023. Photo by Ana Heck, MSU Extension.

Michigan State University Extension (MSU Extension) partners with Michigan Food & Farming Systems (MIFFS) on the Heroes to Hives beekeeping program. Veterans, Reservists, Active Duty and National Guard members of the U.S. Armed Forces are eligible for the program, and they are allowed to enroll their adult children, spouses, partners and caregivers. Gold Star families and surviving spouses are also eligible to register. Registration is open through MIFFS at www.HeroesToHives.com from Nov. 1, 2023, through Feb. 28, 2024. Past Heroes to Hives participants are welcome to register.

MIFFS will email eligible participants educational content monthly from March through November 2024.

MSU Extension helps create educational materials for participants in the Heroes to Hives program and holds in-hive workshops. Participants in the Heroes to Hives online program who reside in Michigan will be notified by email about opportunities to register for in-hive workshops at MSU sites in the 2024 beekeeping season. Additional information about the program is available through MSU Extension’s Heroes to Hives webpage and MIFFS’s Heroes to Hives webpage.

Since 2017, MSU Extension has taught beekeeping through the Heroes to Hives program to Veterans, Reservists, Active Duty, National Guard members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their immediate dependents. To support the growth of the program, MIFFS submitted a grant to work with MSU Extension, University of Missouri Extension, University of Minnesota’s Bee Veterans program, University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Great Plains Master Beekeeping program and Michigan Veterans of Foreign Wars. The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded the group $750,000 for an Enhancing Agricultural Opportunities for Military Veterans Grant.

Register for Heroes to Hives

Resources from MSU for beekeepers and pollinator enthusiasts

Acknowledgment

This work is supported by the Enhancing Agricultural Opportunities for Military Veterans grant, award no. 2021-77028-35274 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

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