August 16, 2021
A Century of Sweet Success: Sioux Honey Association
Cooperatives are businesses owned and controlled by their members, who share in the co-op’s risks and returns. Since 1926, USDA has been conducting an annual formal survey of all agricultural cooperatives in the United States. In compiling data each year and tracking cooperatives and their trends, the Cooperative Services branch has noted that many cooperatives have been in business longer than the survey has been formally administered by the department.
 |
|
This very fact points directly to the longevity and sustainability of the cooperative business model and this bulletin features a significant century cooperative in that light. Century cooperatives have been in business for at least 100 years and USDA’s co-op database shows that there will be 328 ag co-ops, or 18.8 percent of all ag co-ops, that are at least 100 years old by the end of 2021. In tracking co-ops over the years, USDA has found that there are a number of common keys to longevity that century cooperatives seem to possess, as shown in the box at left. |
Sioux Honey Association is one of the cooperatives joining the ranks of Century Cooperatives this year. In 1921, five beekeepers in Sioux City, Iowa, formed Sioux Honey Association, each contributing $200 (approximately $2,685 in 2021 dollars adjusted for inflation) to collectively market their 3,000 pounds of honey.
For perspective, in 1920 there were 540,917 farms in the U.S. with beehives. Of those, only 58 percent reported having production in 1919. At that time, the average number of hives on a farm was 8.2 and the total value of U.S. honey production was $13,988,670; which worked out to about $0.20 per pound.[1]
Prior to WWI, beekeeping was simply one part of a farm operation, not a full-time occupation. The infrastructure necessary to bring honey to the market was poor which greatly restricted the size of market an individual producer could reach. After WWI, several factors contributed to the growth of the beekeeping industry: highways were constructed allowing for more widely motorized travel, sugar demand increased due to shortages, honey packing houses were created, and hive management techniques improved. Thus, the industry was just beginning to develop to where a beekeeper could work full time at this craft. By 1957, there were an estimated 1,200 full-time beekeepers minding 1,400,000 colonies[2].
“We have had to find new ways to compete with the growth of Private Labels and their increasing use of cheap, import honey from countries generally less concerned with purity. We have also had to focus on product innovation as a way of making our category more relevant to consumers and our customers with increasing options for natural and artificial sweeteners”—Alex Blumenthal, President/CEO
Sioux Honey Association has grown from the original five members marketing honey into a cooperative with more than 200 active members, each managing their own beekeeping operations. A number of operations are 3rd and 4th generation. This solid membership, of predominately US beekeepers, supplies the co-op’s processing facilities in Elizabethtown, NC, Anaheim, CA and at its headquarters in Sioux City, IA. |
|
 |
|
The 1960s brought a new challenge: how to grow and maintain a market by developing a quality branded product that customers would recognize and trust. Customers today know this as Sue Bee® filtered clover honey which was followed by Aunt Sue’s® raw unfiltered honey in the 1970s. More recently the cooperative developed and began marketing infused honeys. This branding strategy has created recognition in the marketplace, allowing for premium pricing of its products, and permitting higher cooperative returns to flow back to member beekeepers.
The benefits of being in the cooperative are participation in the upside of prices through the development of branded products, the ability to serve larger customers through product pooling, and the ability to spread risk out over many producers. With many types and grades of honey as well as many end-uses, determining a single price for honey is difficult. Thus, Sioux Honey Association pools its members’ honey in order to create pricing deals. To create the marketing pool, member honey is delivered and then combined with other members’ honey of a similar type and quality. Members are then paid based on the pool price received and the amount of honey that they delivered to the pool. In addition to marketing honey, the cooperative also operates another pool to market beeswax.
With a membership that is geographically spread out across the United States, communication is critically important to operations. To aid in communications and member control, the cooperative membership is divided into 11 districts. Members in each district then elect one member to serve on the Board of Directors. The membership also convenes annually so that the cooperative as a whole can discuss what is happening in the industry, how the cooperative is marketing its honey, the co-op’s financial position, and to reconnect members with each other. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, meetings were difficult to hold in 2020 and 2021. However, with the advent of on-line meeting resources, virtual board meetings and supplementary member meetings occurred.
|
“Keeping bees alive has become extremely challenging due to a number of factors which include parasitic mites, pesticides, lack of a variety of floral sources/pollen and diseases such as foulbrood.” –Mark Mammen, President Emeritus
 |
|
While members own and operate their own beekeeping operations and are very proficient at understanding the best management practices to maintain their colonies, the co-op believes sound member services are critical. Some of these services include having a stable market for member honey, providing containers for member honey, and employing an in-house lab to ensure quality. To conduct these services, the co-op has a separate member relations department that is staffed to handle all member business (picking up honey, delivering containers, as well as handling all aspects of members accounts from receiving their honey to making sure they receive their payments).
Furthermore, on the member relations front, Sioux Honey
|
Association began a program in 1980 to recognize the achievements of members through two distinct awards: Member of the Year and The Pioneer Award. Member of the year goes to active or long-time time members that contribute to the association and the industry. The Pioneer Award is given to a retired or honorary member that is active in the association and who also may have made significant contributions to the beekeeping industry.
|
Through a century of success, it’s clear that Sioux Honey Association exhibits many of the characteristics listed in the box above that contribute to the longevity of a cooperative. For number three: community supporter, Sioux Honey Association also reaches high. Many non-profits have benefitted from the co-op’s donations. Sioux Honey Association and its members have donated school supplies to NBC 7’s supply drive, delivered dog treats to the Humane Society in San Diego, teddy bears to Children’s Hospital and Treasures for Teachers in Colorado, and to the Little Free Pantry in California. In 2020, the cooperative also provided donations to the Soldiers’ Angels, which supplies aid to wounded heroes, veterans, military families, and deployed service members. The Angel Bakers, a group of skilled volunteers from the Soldiers Angels, used Sue Bee® Honey to create treats for troops stationed overseas.
Sioux Honey Association is indeed a century cooperative that shows the sustainability of the cooperative model and how concrete benefits can be derived from a cooperative, both for the members participating in its use, ownership, and returns, but also for the high quality American-grown products the co-op provides to consumers through the U.S. food and fiber system.
Congratulations to Sioux Honey Association. Reaching the milestone of 100 years is indeed an impressive accomplishment for any business, and especially considering all of the industry changes that have taken place over the century. Here’s wishing your membership, and consumers alike, many sweet returns.
|
[1] Census of Agriculture 1920, Department of Commerce, Vol. 5, GPO, 1922.
[1] Oertel, Everett; retired USDA apiarist; "Beekeeping in the U.S.," Agricultural Handbook #335, revised, 1980.
This bulletin was produced by Deborah Rausch with assistance from Elspeth Fehn. The authors greatly thank the leadership of Sioux Honey Association for the quality information they provided in answering questions and reviewing this bulletin. To contact the author please email: deborah.rausch@usda.gov
[Please note: the focus on the Sioux Honey Association in this bulletin is for example and informational purposes and does not signify endorsement over other companies' products and services. If you would like to reach out with your own cooperative story, we would love to hear it, simply contact us.]
Here is the link to this bulletin: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDARD/bulletins/2da2fa7
Rural Business-Cooperative Service
Cooperative Services Branch
Questions: please feel free to reach out to: coopinfo@usda.gov
|
