According to the experts, military veterans are a perfect fit for bees.
U.S. Army Veteran Adam Ingrao says beekeeping is a way to continue serving the country, because bees are essential in pollinating our nation’s food supply. He also says it’s rewarding work emotionally, physically and financially. These are a few of several reasons Ingrao started Heroes to Hives, a national program that gives an accredited beekeeping education.
The program is 9-month beekeeping education program for veterans and active-duty military members and their dependents. It’s an intensive online training March through November. The training includes lectures, handouts and instructional videos. In the fall, there’s a final exam that results in a certificate accredited by USDA as one year of experience in agriculture. That certificate can also serve as transferable credits to a master beekeeping program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
There are face-to-face opportunities as well. On-the-ground training happens in various states, including Minnesota, Michigan and Indiana. If you’re a master beekeeper in Wisconsin and you want to offer classes, they’re looking for folks like you to give in-person instruction.
“We’re trying to set our veterans up for success and to be competitive in the industry,” Ingrao says.
He started the program in 2015. It began from Ingrao’s personal experience transitioning from the military. He was discharged in 2004 after a career-ending injury, and he was faced with several challenges transitioning to civilian life, which was vastly different than his military life.
“It was the same experience a lot of veterans work with — you’re falling off a cliff,” he says. “You lose your family, as far as your military family. There’s no mission anymore — you can do whatever you want, which is a little overwhelming.”
Ingrao found beekeeping when he went back to school for plant science.
“I took a beekeeping class my first semester… and from that point on my life entirely changed,” he says. “Not only did I find it as a career opportunity, it was also helping with my own personal struggle with wellness at the time.”
After moving to Michigan to complete his PhD, Ingrao and his wife started a small farm in Lancing. His wife thought that other veterans might find the same healing through bees as Ingrao did. He held the first classes in his living room and wood shop with a cohort of five people.
“Since then the program has just taken off,” he says. “This year we’re looking at 2,000 to 3,000 students in the course just this year alone.”
If this is something you’re interested, learn more at https://www.miffs.org/heroestohives.
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