BUSY AS BEES
Justin & Randi Lowe tackle the adventure of becoming commercial beekeepers and starting Rural Route Farms.
When we sit down to enjoy a meal, we’re often reminded to thank a farmer for the hard work that goes into growing our food, but there’s another hard worker who deserves equal credit for our nation’s food supply – bees. Weighing only one tenth of a gram, bees are tiny, but mighty. Not only do they produce their own food source in the form of honey, they’re instrumental in the production of $15 billion worth of crops each year. In fact, one out of every three bites of food we enjoy can be attributed to their direct and indirect pollination. Bees are responsible for carrying pollen from one plant to another, facilitating reproduction in some plants. Apples, blackberries, watermelons and almonds are just a few crops that rely on bees moving pollen from one plant to another. With reports of the decline of honeybees over the past few years, it’s more important than ever to have caretakers who help them thrive.
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didn’t know, was how those first three hives would grow to become a business. After several years of keeping bees as a hobby, Justin started working for a commercial beekeeper in Johnson County. In 2018, Justin and Randi were presented with the opportunity to buy the beekeeper’s hives, supplies and bee yards. The purchase enabled them to begin working for themselves. After careful thought and working out financing details with Farm Credit, the Lowes’ beekeeping operation quickly grew from a hobby and working for someone else, to owning a few hundred beehives in more than a dozen locations. From this shift, Rural Route Farms was born. Despite having his own experience with bees, Justin said becoming a commercial beekeeper still came with its share of challenges.
“We had an idea of what we were doing on a small scale, but doing it on a large scale is Justin Lowe began beekeeping in 2012 after he different,” Justin explained. “We’ve had to learn and his wife, Randi, were approached by members from making mistakes and by being around the of a bee club who shared the joys of beekeeping bees every day. You learn from what you did at the Arkansas Flower and Garden Show. yesterday and improve on what you see year after year.” “Next thing we knew, we were purchasing hives and equipment, ready to get started,” Justin said. Aside from trial and error, Randi says they also have a support system they can call with questions Soon, Justin and Randi were genuine beekeepers and, of course, plenty of information to be found and the proud owners of three hives, looking on the internet and in books. forward to enjoying fresh honey. What they
