A West Virginia University student placed second in a national competition that required him to explain his business idea in a 40-second elevator pitch.
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WVU student taps University resources to build beekeeping business into success
By most estimates, bees are slowly disappearing. That’s an important fact since they pollinate roughly a third of all the food we eat, and over 80 percent of crops grown for human consumption need bees and other insects to pollinate them to increase the quality and yield of fruit. It’s not constrained to fruits and vegetables either. Nuts, plants used to produce oils, such as sunflowers, cocoa beans, coffee, tea and cotton are also dependent on pollinators.
With 64 hives that cover 170 acres of property, Matthew Byrd’s operation is a serious enterprise that is not only the story of one person helping to restore and protect the bee population — it demonstrates what occurs when you mix a student’s passion with University outreach and resources.