Queen Breeders Panel
For over two decades Old Sol has worked to select productive, hardy, disease tolerant queens. Key strategies include incorporating the best available genetics, heavy selection pressure, and data collection. We currently produce about 8000 queens a year and look forward to increasing production to meet rising demand.
John Jacob founded Old Sol Enterprises in 1997. He has served as president of SOBA from 2004 to 2018 and is now a lifetime honorary member. He is current president of the Oregon State Beekeepers Association. Old Sol has specialized in bee breeding and finding innovative, sustainable agricultural solutions. John’s educational background includes a BS in biology, with minors in Chemistry and Economics from Southern Oregon State University.
Old Sol’s business endeavors include queens, nucs, commercial pollination, honey, and agrivoltaic consulting. Old Sol is the largest commercial queen producer in the state of Oregon and has built a highly respected national brand. John operates Old Sol Enterprises LLC with his wife Mysti and two children, Makai and Maya, in the beautiful Rogue Valley of Southern Oregon. Old Sol Enterprises has pioneered disease-resistant bee breeding and innovative solutions for utility scale solar dual use operations.
John has published many articles and is a highly sought after public speaker. Old Sol’s mission statement encapsulates many of John’s core values:
“Through knowledge, wisdom, education, and innovation Old Sol strives to reduce the negative impacts of modern agriculture in an effort to preserve biodiversity and quality of life for all generations, in all regions by implementing and sharing healthy farming practices whenever and wherever possible. In essence Old Sol Enterprises leads by example and demonstrates that healthy sustainable food production can be profitable.”