NC 10% Campaign
Jeff Stone
Wagram Apiary
Jeff Stone is a beekeeper located in Laurinburg, N.C. Jeff started out painting and refinishing silos, floors, and sandblasting for the local community in Laurinburg. Jeff slowly started to transition to beekeeping, and during the COVID-19 pandemic had to rely on it as a major source of income for him and his family. Jeff has a shop in Laurinburg where he and his wife make the boxes for the bees, produce wax and candles, and jar the honey.
Jeff has roughly 16 hives and works with farmers in the surrounding area whose crops are in need of pollination. Jeff brings the bees out to local farms where the bees pollinate, return to the hive, and produce honey. It is a symbiotic relationship where both the farmer and Jeff benefit.
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Bees are an essential part of farming; without the pollination from the bees, the plants will not thrive. At this point, there simply are not enough beekeepers to sustain our agriculture, and bees that existed in wooded areas in the past are dying out. Jeff has to battle mites and wax moths so he can keep his bees happy and healthy. Without local beekeepers like Jeff, the future of agriculture in our nation looks pretty bleak. Thanks to Jeff and beekeepers like him, we can keep local agriculture sustained and be able to eat both produce and honey for many years to come.
