July Monthly Meeting

Eugene Makovec will present “Packaging and Selling Honey in Missouri: A Guide for small and medium-sized Beekeeping Operations”.  He’ll discuss the laws for bottling, labeling and selling honey in Missouri — partly the kitchen rules he help to  change in 2015, but also the various rules and exemptions on sales tax, and where and how to register your business to go legit.

Eugene Makovec is a 28-year, third-generation beekeeper with about a dozen colonies in Lincoln County. He has been Editor of American Bee Journal since 2018, and is serving a second stint as President of Three Rivers Beekeepers in St. Charles County (nobody else wants the job). He served on the board of the Missouri State Beekeepers Association for 11 years, and is a two-time Missouri Beekeeper of the Year (2006 and 2015).

Eugene jumped briefly into the political fray in 2015, spearheading a successful effort to deregulate the sale of honey in Missouri — by stripping our pure product of its “processed food” designation and thus allowing us to sell it through retail outlets without benefit of a commercial kitchen.

Also, learn how you can earn a blue ribbon with your honey and hive products at the Missouri State Fair.  Bob Finck and Ken Heitkamp will walk you through what they’ve learned after collectively winning 176 ribbons over the last 30 years.

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