JAMESTOWN (North Dakota) SUN

June 5, 2009

Jamestown-area honey company counts South Africans among seasonal workers

JAMESTOWN, N.D. – North Dakota consistently leads the nation in producing honey and that arduous task requires dedicated workers, said Zac Browning, co-owner and operator of Browning Honey Co. Inc.

The Jamestown-area company turns out about 900 tons of honey each year, Browning said.

Browning Honey plans to have a staff of 30 during this year’s honey producing season, which is from June 20 to Sept. 1, he said.

More than one-third of that staff is from South Africa.

Browning said Browning Honey adopted an industrywide practice five years ago and started looking for workers through the H-2A guest worker program.

The U.S. Department of Labor program provides Browning with seasonal migratory workers, he said.

Cilliers De Beer of Polokwane, South Africa, is one of 11 workers from South Africa.

De Beer has worked with Browning Honey for five years. He knew nothing about beekeeping before arriving.

“You get used to it, you fall in love with it and keep doing it,” he said.

Browning said bee laborers’ work “is just not that pleasant.”

Employees such as De Beer look forward to working in a modern facility and hopefully taking some of that experience back to South Africa, De Beer said.

“To be given this opportunity is tremendous,” he said.

Seasonal migratory workers work part of the year in Jamestown, part in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and part in California, Browning said.

Adriaan Venter, a beekeeper from Freetown Wepener, South Africa, enjoys the small-town feel of Jamestown more than the other locations.

Venter has worked with Browning Honey for four years and enjoys North Dakota, except for its winters, he said.

Browning Honey has about 600 million bees in about 12,000 hives throughout North Dakota. Beekeepers visit the hives every two weeks, feeding and inspecting the bees, Browning said.

Converting the raw product into the honey that fills the bear-shaped bottles is another challenge.

The raw honey is brought in the combs from the hives to a hot room and then employees move it into a centrifuge, which separates the honey and wax from the combs, Browning explained.

A system of pipes then moves the product to a heating exchange system and onto another separator that removes the wax and bits of wood from the honey.

The wax then goes to a melting system where stacks are produced and the honey is placed into a 5,000-gallon drum, Browning said.

On a good day that 5,000-gallon drum will be filled, said Mark Peterson, Browning Honey plant manager.

“The real magic of the operation happens out there with Mother Nature. We’re just the mechanics,” he said.