Kenneth Haff, President of the American Honey Producers Association (AHPA) sweeps a glance around the full event room at Hilton Sacramento Arden West and smiles. He is pleased with the turnout for AHPA’s 41st Annual National Convention, a three-day event hosting speakers and vendors from all across the country.

This is the second year Sacramento has served as the convention’s host city. Haff estimated that around 600 people registered for the convention, and about 37 vendors. Seminars included “The Honey Revolution – Restoring the Health of Future Generations” with Dr. Ron Fessenden of Colorado and The Sierra Club’s “Working to Protect Pollinators” with Dr. Neil Carman of Texas, to name just a few.

“We’ve got hobbyists in attendance as well as vendors representing all the major sellers in the beekeeping industry. We’ve got labs from Washington and Arizona as well as UC Davis entomologists speaking on breakthroughs regarding bee diseases and new technologies in the industry,” he said.

Haff has been beekeeping for 32 years. He began as a hobbyist with 50 colonies and has graduated to 2,000 full-time colonies, which he brings to California from North Dakota for pollination.

“A lot of people come to the convention to learn about pollination," he said. "It’s important for people involved in agriculture, especially in the almond industry.” 

Haff was most excited to see three members of the National Guard’s Oklahoma Agricultural Development Team (ADT) attend: Warren Higginbotham, Crystal Sims, and Chris Shoffner. The three are part of a team of about 60 Oklahoma Army National Guardsmen who will take the agricultural skills and resources they’ve amassed to Afghanistan for 10 months of teaching and training outreach programs.

“After every war there is need for an economic development program. That’s where our Agriculture and Development teams and Provincial Reconstruction teams come in. We’re focusing on implementing an infrastructure with agriculture,” Higginbotham said.

U.S. Senator Kit Bond has been promoting the development of an ADT presence in Afghanistan since visiting the country in 2006. Since about 80 percent of Afghanistan’s population is linked to the agricultural sector, Bond contends that supporting sustainable agriculture has the potential to not only improve the lives of Afghani people, but also supplant the narcotics industry.

“These citizen-soldiers are literally sowing the seeds of peace in Afghanistan,” Bond said.

Higginbotham, Sims and Shoffner are part of the second agricultural team to be deployed from Oklahoma. They are taking the reigns from a Tennessee team in Paktia Province near Gardez in part of a rotating deployment.

“We’re recapping the tire,” Higginbotham said. “Before this convention, we were in contact with our agricultural counterparts in Afghanistan, narrowing in on what information we need to be collecting here.”

The main focus for Oklahoma National Guard's ADT is fostering growth in beekeeping, fisheries and hatcheries, and orchards in Afghanistan.

“What we’re learning is that beekeeping processes are generally similar everywhere. Crop spray drift introduces pesticides, affecting the health of bees. The same diseases seem to affect bees in Afghanistan, but by a much smaller scope. We may find that the Afghani beekeepers have found a way to take care of common bee diseases in their colonies. We may be learning from them!” says Higginbotham.

When the ADT members learned about Sacramento's AHPA convention, they took the opportunity to sit in on the seminars in order to expand their knowledge of the specialized intricacies of beekeeping. Their hope is to implement the skills and resources they've acquired in the U.S. with educational programs in Paktia Province that inspire new agricultural practices and stimulate the region's economy. 

A structural basis has been implemented in Afghanistan, including a beekeeping association and classes offering attendees two hives of their own. Shoffner notes that he was surprised to learn that in Afghanistan, women most frequently undertake beekeeping, whereas he understands it to be a more male-dominated practice in the U.S.

“For the past 30 years, these people have lived in a war-torn environment. Now we’re coming in with construction teams and building communities back up. We’re not going in saying we have all the answers. We just want to help build a better standard of daily life,” continued Shoffner.

The AHPA convention offers the team a comprehensive educational resource. The trio cite information sharing and relationship building as key to their undertaking. At this convention, they’ve connected with three suppliers who have sent equipment to Afghanistan.

“These events build networks. We’ve gotten to know pollinators, suppliers, and labs. It’s a great way to get answers to all our questions. These folks have been very friendly, very helpful. They’re making our job a lot easier,” said Higginbotham.