The Great Plains Food Bank has received its largest ever donation of honey.
Dan Bauer is CEO of Bauer Honey, and is Northern Minnesota Director for Sioux Honey which is located in Sioux City, Iowa. The beekeeper-owned co-op produces and distributes honey across the country, and Bauer says North Dakota is the top producer of honey nationwide. He says there are over a million beehives in North Dakota, and bees love it here because of the crops.
"The canola is the big draw, and always the sweet clover and alfalfa is very abundant too across the state. Especially when you get further central and west. The canola is up on the northern part, and I guess you can drive around and about every quarter of a section you'll see bee hives sitting there. It's unbelievable."
Bauer dropped off 6,000 bottles of Sue Bee Honey at the Great Plains Food Bank. He says it’s important to Sioux Honey that they give back to the communities that give so much to them in the first place.
"We're proud to be able to donate back, because we're a family and we understand families have problems and needs throughout the year. It's not always about the bottom line; Sioux Honey is a co-op, and we call ourselves a family, and we know there are other people that are a part of that family that aren't members. And it's good to give back."
Sioux Honey was started in 1921, and has over 150 beekeeper members nationwide.