The Symbiotic Relationship Between the Commercial and the Hobby Beekeeping Industry
Panel: Andony Melathopoulos, Moderator, with Max Kuhn, Jeremy Mitchell, Jason Rowan, Linda Zahl
The purpose of the panel is to discuss how hobby beekeeping and commercial beekeeping are reliant on each other. The audience will be encouraged to ask questions in writing through the moderator. Note cards will be available on the tables to write questions.
Jason Rowan has been keeping bees since 2002, beginning as a hobbyist, but it grew quickly to a side-line business while he still worked his day job. Then in 2008, he officially switched to full-time commercial beekeeping, pollinating local crops as well as California almonds, and selling honey and wax on a wholesale scale. Today he has over 1,500 hives. His educational background is in Botany and Horticulture (graduated from Oregon State University), and he and his bees now actively participate in OSU entomology research projects. He is a past Lane County Beekeepers Association board member, was the South Valley Regional Representative for OSBA, and is a past OSBA vice president.