7:00 PM: Record Keeping Basics with Phil Crump.

7:30 PM: This month's topic is Cotton and Bees, and how the two can be mutually beneficial to one another.

Our speaker is Guy Collins. Guy Collins wears two hats. He is employed by NC State University where he serves as Professor and Extension Cotton Specialist. In this role, he develops research-based

recommendations for North Carolina cotton growers and advises them on the latest management practices that maximize profits, sustainability, and environmentally responsibility. The majority of his research is on-farm, in growers’ fields across all parts of North Carolina where cotton is grown. He began his career in 2009 at the University of Georgia as the Extension Cotton Agronomist and served 5 years there. A former colleague and friend in Georgia later went on to be employed by Rossman Apiaries, which facilitated Dr Collins’s endeavor into commercial beekeeping, which is the other hat he wears. 

Guy, and his wife Ashley, also own and operate COTTON BOLL Pollinators LLC and BAYED BEAR Honey LLC in Bailey NC, which was launched approximately 6 years ago. Guy had been beekeeping with his father on the family farm for approximately 15 years, but his connections with Rossman Apiaries spurred him into pursuing commercial beekeeping. They now sell bee packages and supplies from Rossman Apiaries, as well as their own NC-raised Nucs and Queens, as well as pollination services and of course, cotton honey.