Beekeeping business plan

A business plan for an apiary is drawn up before you buy the necessary equipment. Beekeeping is a business like any other and is subject to the same economic laws. In the absence of the necessary funds for the apiary, a business plan will come in handy for obtaining a loan from a bank.

Profitability of the apiary: is it worth it to start

The market in Our Country is not even saturated with bee products yet. This niche is still more than half free. The apparent abundance of honey is provided by imported bee products. Usually it is Chinese honey. It is cheap but very low quality. The beekeeper will have to compete with this product at the expense of quality.

The profitability of the apiary will be high if it is dealt with seriously. Business processes in beekeeping are still impossible to automate. This is monotonous manual labor. But he also brings good income, if not lazy.

Business in the apiary can bring up to 4 million rubles annually. But this is the amount from which all expenses will have to be deducted. You will also have to deal with retail trade on your own. When handing over beekeeping products to resellers, the income from the apiary must be immediately divided by 2 or more.

Step by Step Business Plan for Breeding Bees

In fact, a business plan is not a “what if I want to get into beekeeping” guide. Business plan – calculations, thanks to which you can see in advance whether this or that type of activity will be beneficial. A business plan is made before starting any business. At the same time, the sales market is being explored and the business plan is no longer drawn up abstractly, but in relation to a specific place, as well as time and demand.

In beekeeping, they first look at market prices. After that, a beginner beekeeper needs to evaluate his site: is it suitable for an apiary. If your own apiary site is not suitable, you need to find and rent a suitable one.

Before renting, it is necessary to decide which type of economic activity to choose and register the appropriate enterprise. After registration and clarification of the situation with the site, an apiary is built. They buy equipment and supplies for it. After that, you can already buy bee colonies and do beekeeping tightly.

Registration and taxation

It is possible to engage in beekeeping and not pay taxes, but you will have to forget about the nomadic apiary. A stationary apiary will significantly reduce income for almost the same amount of work. In this case, LPH is registered.

Law No. 07.07.2003-FZ of 112 “On personal subsidiary farming” and paragraph 13 of Article 217 of Chapter 23 of the Tax Code of the Federation allow individuals to maintain an apiary on their own plot, provided:

• lack of hired labor in the apiary;
• availability of documents for the apiary;
• if the apiary does not go beyond the boundaries of the site.

Standard for a personal plot: 50 acres. The maximum size to which it can be increased is 250 acres.

Theoretically, even 50 acres should be enough for an apiary for 150 hives and the necessary buildings. Considering that the business plan calls for a 50 beehive apiary, the minimum size is sufficient and no taxes need to be paid. But this will impose other restrictions: bee products cannot be sold on the market on their own.

If things go well, and there is a desire to increase the apiary or sell beekeeping products on their own, it makes sense to set up an individual business.

Sole proprietorship: why is it needed?

This legal status already provides for the payment of taxes. In the case of selling honey through your own retail outlet, when registering an individual entrepreneur, it is better to choose the single tax regime on imputed income. The amount of this tax depends on the area of ​​the outlet. The fee is fixed and no cashier is needed. With this form of business, it is better to choose the OKVED code 52.27.39.

If you are not planning to sell beekeeping products on your own, it is better to choose another code – 01.25.1, which means that the business will be breeding bees. In this case, you can choose one of two types of taxation: ESHN or STS income. In the first case, you will need to pay 6% of the profit. But this is inconvenient for a private beekeeper, who often buys the necessary materials without a receipt. STS income is simpler in terms of accounting: 6% of income. And there is no need to maintain full-fledged accounting with debit and credit.

Rent of a land plot

The most uncertain moment that cannot be calculated in a business plan. It all depends on the diplomatic skills of the businessman and the greed of the land owner. Theoretically, agricultural firms should only be happy that their fields will be pollinated by bees, and provide plots for apiaries free of charge. And sometimes pay extra if the plants themselves do not pollinate. In fact, how can we reach an agreement? From free apiary placement to high rent.

Equipment and Supplies

In addition to the obvious: hives and a honey extractor, the apiary also requires other equipment, which beginners think little about. But this obligatory “trifle” must be taken into account when drawing up a business plan:

• beekeeper suit;
• spare frames for hives;
• smoker
• grate or glass for combustible material in the smoker;
• honeycomb knife;
• mother trap;
• box for carrying frames;
• a pollen trap if there are plans to sell pollen;
• beekeeping chisel
• propolis collection;
• stand for storing printed frames;
• honey filter;
• dividing grid for the hive;
• transportation for bees;
• feeder intrahive;
• brushes for cleaning in beehives.
• other inventory.

You may also need a gas burner and cylinders for it, an electric winder or a winder, some other, at first glance, non-obvious things.

Inventory for an apiary is usually inexpensive, within 1000 rubles. But all together when writing a business plan, you can safely put aside 20000 or more. Of the above, the most expensive are: stand for honey frames and transportation for bees.

The table for opening honeycombs is expensive. Its price is 8-10 thousand. But this device can perfectly replace a baby bath or a regular basin.

Hives and honey extractor

The cost of hives complete with frames today is 4000-6000. The second major purchase will be a honey extractor, the average price of which is 20000.

Acquisition of bee colonies

It is better to buy bee colonies in nurseries where thoroughbred bees are bred. When laying in a business plan the purchase of a colony of bees, it should be borne in mind that usually young small families are selling. Such colonies will not make a profit in the first season. But their cost is low – 2000 rubles.

There are usually no large strong colonies for sale. Unless someone liquidates his apiary. It is more profitable to use a strong family for the production of honey or for obtaining layering for sale.

Service staff

Let the apiary be a rather difficult occupation with completely manual labor, but it is not profitable to hire a hired worker for 50 beehives. The hottest time in the apiary, when it is better not to waste days, is early spring and autumn. In the spring, the colonies need to be “put into operation” faster, every day is expensive here. Autumn is less stressful. After pumping honey, all work in the apiary can be done gradually.

In summer, bees are often not recommended to be disturbed, and even 100 person can manage an apiary for 1 colonies. The hives are inspected every 2 weeks. 10 hives per day – 10 days for inspection, 4 for rest. The grass in the apiary should be mowed as needed, and not every day.

Hiring people is unprofitable not only because of taxes, but also because of the salary. When officially hired, the amount offered to the employee must be multiplied by 2. The second half of the “wage fund” will go to the employee’s social security payments.

For an apiary of 50 hives, hired employees are not required at all. In the spring, you can ask family members for help.

Product sales

In order not to pay taxes and not waste time, honey can be handed over to resellers. But if now the retail price of honey is at least 300 rubles. per kg, then resellers will sell it for more than 150 rubles. fail. Even in a very prosperous year, the revenue from 50 hives in this case will be: 50x40x150 = 300000.

If you have your own place, honey can be sold more expensive. With a revenue of 600000 rubles. You will have to pay 6% tax. That is, 36000 rubles. 564000 rubles will remain on hand.

The possibility of additional income

Even with the hand-made sale of honey, the income from an apiary for 50 hives will be small: about 47000 rubles. per month. If the beekeeper is alone, this may be enough for him to live and maintain his business, but the family will require more. Therefore, it is worth laying in the business plan sources of additional income from beekeeping. It can be:

• by-products;
• apitherapy;
• provision of pollination services for greenhouses;
• sale of queens and bee colonies.

The last three are unlikely to be truly profitable. It makes no sense to consider them in a business plan.

Sale of other bee products

By-products of beekeeping are:

• bee bread;
• wax;
• royal jelly;
• drone homogenate;
• propolis;
• undersea

Among the by-products of beekeeping, perga brings the most income. She also has the largest exit from the hive. The retail price of bee bread is 4000 rubles/kg. Although today on the Internet you can find bee bread for sale for 2000 rubles. The average yield of this product from a hive is 15 kg.

It is not difficult to get this beekeeping product, it is easy to store, and it brings even more income than honey.

The collection of royal jelly is carried out under the strict control of sanitary services. The labor costs here are high, and the revenue is small. It is easier to collect it for immediate consumption than to sell it.

Drone homogenate, also known as milk, is not at all recognized by official medicine. You will have to look for ways to sell on your own and illegally. It is very difficult to store it, although getting it is very simple even without a press: thoroughly knead the combs with 7-day-old drone larvae and strain the resulting liquid.

In the same way, tinctures from dead wood are not recognized. But these are alcohol-containing liquids that are easily stored. And you also need to look for buyers on your own.

The output of propolis from an apiary for 50 hives is about 2 kg. It will be more profitable to sell tinctures right away, since the price of raw materials is also small.

In the business plan for the apiary, both types of tinctures should not be indicated. For the state, this is the illegal sale of alcohol.

Wax output from the hive is only 1,5 kg. And a significant part of this beekeeping product is needed by the beekeeper himself for the next year. Only wax and zabrus infected with pathogens are on sale.

These are the “caps” with which the bees seal the honeycombs. Its composition differs from other waxes.

Apitherapy

It should be noted right away that the specialty “apiotherapist” is not in the register. On the one hand, this is good for a potential healer. The absence of a profession means that it is possible to practice apitherapy without obtaining a license and medical education.

On the other hand, such illegal activities will be possible until the first allergy sufferer dies of anaphylactic shock.

Profit from pollination

There are many garden and horticultural crops that can only be pollinated by bees. Without such pollination, plants will not produce a crop. Because of this feature, they cannot be grown in greenhouses, since bees fly into these glass buildings from the street very reluctantly.

If there is a greenhouse farm nearby, you can rent hives to him. A hive standing in a greenhouse will help to “kill two birds with one stone”: pollinate plants and get honey and bee bread.

But the income here cannot be calculated in the same way as with the lease of a land plot. Perhaps there will be just mutually beneficial cooperation: the beekeeper puts beehives in greenhouses for free, the farm receives pollinators for free.

Cultivation and sale of queens and bee colonies

It will be possible to engage in this business in the apiary only after their own colonies grow. He won’t make a big profit. Even if each family swarms annually, 50 families can be obtained from the apiary for sale. At a cost of 2000 rubles. the total annual revenue will be 100000 rubles. But families do not swarm every year.

Growing queens in the event that the beekeeping business plan was calculated for a honey apiary is even less profitable. You can earn a small amount by selling surplus queens.

Production and sale of hives and inventory

This is a separate type of activity, under which you must consider your own business plan. Profit from the production of hives and inventory depends on the cost of materials for their manufacture, labor costs and demand for goods. This area has nothing to do with the beekeeping business plan. This can be done without owning an apiary.

Ready business plan for beekeeping

For a novice entrepreneur, selling honey to resellers means killing the business in the bud. It is worth trying to calculate a business plan immediately with the sale of honey at your own outlet. Initial costs for an apiary of 50 hives:

• beehives 60 pcs. for 5000-300000 rubles;
• bee colonies 50 pieces for 2000-100000 rubles;
• honey extractor – 20000 rubles;
• table for honeycombs – 9000 rubles;
• spare frames for hives 100 pcs. – 10000 rubles;
• veterinary preparations – 10000 rubles;
• inventory – 20000 rubles;
• paperwork and rent of a trading place – 50000 rubles;
• unforeseen expenses – 100000 rubles;
• funds for life for 2 years – 480000 rubles;

Total amount: RUB 1,099 million

It’s not worth taking. There are always circumstances that require additional funds. The bank needs to ask for a loan of 1,5 million rubles.

In the first year, it is hardly possible to get income from the apiary, since the families will still be weak, and all the honey must be left to them. 40 kg per hive is the maximum possible figure. Most likely, there will be less honey. The average amount of perga per beehive is 15 kg. The main income in beekeeping comes from the sale of these two products. Self-selling bee products through your own outlet will give twice as much income:

• honey for 30 kg from 50 families at a cost of 300 rubles / kg – 450000 rubles;
• perga 15 kg from 50 hives at a cost of 2000 rubles / kg – 1,5 million.

Total income: 1,95 million rubles for the second year.

From the income you will need to pay a tax of 6%: 117 rubles. Net income: RUB 000 million

Theoretically, it is already possible to fully repay the loan. Net income is not yet profit. With this money, you will need to purchase consumables for the next year. The apiary will fully pay off and start working in the third year.

It is unlikely that the sale of wax and propolis will even cover overhead costs.

List of documents required to start

It is very difficult to say whether documents are needed to open an apiary, as it depends on the path that will be chosen for the development of beekeeping. A dozen beehives in their own garden – a subsidiary farm, which does not require registration. But such a number of colonies is really only for their own consumption and a little sale to friends. Actually, the lack of sale of beekeeping products is the reason for not registering the apiary.

If you immediately start a serious business, you will need papers for the apiary:

• documents confirming the ownership of land or lease of land;
• veterinary passport of the apiary indicating the location and all necessary veterinary and sanitary measures;
• a certificate with the analysis of honey, which also contains the data of the owner of the apiary;
• veterinary conclusion giving the right to sell beekeeping products;
• certificate of the number of colonies in the apiary, issued by the local veterinary service.

For insurance, you can also take certificates of the presence of heavy metals in honey, analysis of bee brood and death. But these certificates are not required, although they are desirable.

The rest of the documents are standard for opening any business. For occupations by an apiary earlier it was better to make out private household plots. After the release of the law on the self-employed, it may be better to take shape that way.

Be sure to ask the local authorities if the new apiary will interfere with the existing ones. It is also necessary to find out where bees cannot be taken if the apiary is nomadic.

Assessment of possible risks

With external benefits, beekeeping is a risky type of business. When calculating a business plan, it must be taken into account that the entire apiary can die from the varroa mite, nosematosis or European foulbrood.

Often the death of the apiary is caused by the owner himself due to an incorrect assessment of the upcoming winter. Families can freeze to death in severe frost. In a hot summer, an apiary set in the sun will all die from the heat. But these are removable moments.

Today, beekeeping is also difficult due to climate change and the unexplained extinction of bees in the world. But in a business plan, this is difficult to take into account because of the unpredictability of the phenomenon.

Conclusion

A business plan for an apiary is necessary not only to convince the bank of the profitability of the loan, but also to find out for yourself whether beekeeping is worth it. The business plan is first calculated in rough draft for themselves and only then they decide whether it is necessary to engage in beekeeping. But optimally, to gain experience, work on someone else’s apiary for a couple of years.