Has anyone heard of grants you can get for beekeeping, I live in NC and I've read on the net you can get state grants, but every lead just dead ends. any info would be greatly appreciated.
I received a 'Beginning Beekeeper' grant from Tennessee last year. It provided a basic beeginner kit minus the bees. TN also has a 'cost matching' for lack of a better term. It basically states that if you are approved they will match up to 15,000
http://www.tn.gov/agriculture/enhancement/2011PDCriteria/PDFY1112HoneyBeeCriteria.pdf (http://www.tn.gov/agriculture/enhancement/2011PDCriteria/PDFY1112HoneyBeeCriteria.pdf)
Now, I know this is for residents of Tennessee, but look and see if your state has something similar.
@wltwine I live in NC also and have been trying to find something on this too. All of my leads seem to be dead ends too.
NC had a give away a few years ago. They gave 2 hives each to 250 new beeks. They have had nothing since that time.
That's what I had heard, but I thought they were still doing it. Thank you
Virginia has it but with the cost of all the classes you have to take it's kinda not worth it. 30 bucks here and 30 bucks there for a classes adds up real quick. You also must have them inspected by a state beekeeper every year which is beyond me how they plan to do it since the state beekeepers are streached way too thin.