The Georgia Beekeepers Association

Honey bees have been the official state insect of Georgia since 1975 and with good reason. Georgia’s climate is ideal for raising honey bees, and beekeeping is a multi-million dollar industry – the third largest agricultural industry in our state.  Bees from Georgia are used for pollination of crops integral to our agricultural system, and are also raised and sold to beekeepers across the country. As the state organization for Georgia beekeepers, we provide connections and support for our rich honey bee industry. 

Georgia is home to a larger number of local clubs than most states, and the GBA serves these local clubs, providing funding and resources for local club officers.

GBA holds two stellar beekeeping conferences a year: a two-day meeting in late September which hosts our annual business meeting and officer elections, and a one day meeting at the end of February. These conferences feature experts from around the country in addition to speakers from the UGA Bee Lab, and draw from the talented pool of speakers residing in our state. 

Spilling the Honey  is the monthly newsletter of GBA, packed full of articles and information about activities helpful to Georgia beekeepers. Sent to members the first of each month via email, past issues can be read here. 

GBA is all about education. In addition to providing knowledge to members at conferences and in newsletters, we support youth beekeeping with our Junior Beekeepers program and sponsor a strong Prison Beekeeping program throughout the state. Funds from the Save the Honey Bee license plate are used to support programs and apiaries at colleges and universities across the state. 

Our organization has an active legislative committee representing beekeeping in state regulatory and legislative matters.

GBA has long supported research at the University of Georgia with our license plate income.

Our website provides listings where the public can find members selling honey, other hive products, bees, and beekeeping courses.  We also have a directory of beekeepers who remove swarms as well as qualified professionals to assist with colony removals from structures.

The GBA Facebook page has over 10K followers and provides information and connections for bee enthusiasts around the globe.

GBA sends representatives to the regional and national beekeeping conferences, making sure that our organization is kept apprised of national honey bee issues.