The people supporting those that grow our food are being left behind.
BEEKEEPERS ARE PRODUCERS TOO.
RAWG is a 501(c)(3) working group dedicated to supporting the U.S. beekeepers who grow our food: building clean, verifiable domestic organic honey and the livelihoods behind it.
Behind every almond, every apple, every berry on your plate is a beekeeper who drove through the dark to set hives before dawn. Managed honey bee colonies contribute over $15 billion in annual crop value through pollination services alone and one in three bites of food depends on their work. Beekeepers tend the hives, manage the colonies, and move across the country to meet the seasons. They are farmers in every sense of the word, and they are the quiet foundation of the American food system. That foundation has been neglected for too long.
Beekeepers don't get subsidies. They don't have a price floor. And right now, they're losing on every front — to fraud, to disease, and to a system that doesn't recognize their labor.
THE THREATS ARE COMPOUNDING + ACCELERATING.
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Honey is among the most adulterated foods in the world. A coordinated EU test flagged 46% of imported honey as suspected of being cut with cheap syrup. Every fake batch pushes prices below what an honest U.S. producer can survive on.
EU Coordinated Action / European Commission JRC, 2023
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With honey priced below the cost of production, beekeepers survive by renting bees for pollination — turning honey into a by-product and the beekeeper into a contractor. The honey income that once cushioned a hard year is gone.
USDA NASS / industry data, 2024–25
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U.S. commercial beekeepers lost roughly 62% of their colonies in 2024–25 — about 1.6 million colonies and $600M+ in losses — the steepest die-off in decades, driven by Varroa mites, pesticides, and pathogens.
Project Apis m. / Honey Bee Health Coalition, 2025
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There is no recognized regenerative or organic honey standard. That means beekeepers can't prove, or get paid for, the clean, high-quality honey they actually produce. The market can't reward what it can't verify.
Regenerative Apiculture White Paper, RAWG
Filling the gap policy left behind.
We work directly with domestic beekeepers to establish clean, verifiable standards, advocate for fair economic recognition, and make the case that honey is a food and beekeepers are its farmers.
Where federal policy has stalled and industry standards have fallen short, RAWG steps in, developing scalable models that strengthen pollinator health, food transparency, and the long-term resilience of the agricultural system that depends on both.
OUR PROJECTS
Beekeeper Pilot Programs
Supporting beekeepers across diverse U.S. landscapes by implementing regenerative management practices that enhance honey purity and colony resilience.
Honey Integrity & Verification
Testing, monitoring, and traceability systems that verify honey purity from hive to shelf — free of adulterating syrups, ag chemicals, and heavy metals — and identify contamination pathways.
Standards & Framework Development
Informing the future regenerative and organic frameworks for domestic honey, grounded in real-world practice, so the market can finally reward quality it can verify.
Bees as Biosensors
An active grant initiative using hive data to verify organic food-system integrity and healthy landscapes — an entirely new service organic beekeepers can offer. We're seeking matching funds.
What Your Donation Supports
Donations assist in funding the beekeeper, the science, and the standard, supporting the research, relationships, and infrastructure that make verified regenerative organic apiculture possible.
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Third-party tested honey, free from adulterating syrups, ag chemicals, and heavy metals — traceable from hive to shelf.
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Salaries, tools, and testing for the skilled professionals managing regenerative organic pilot sites across the U.S.
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Data verifying that regenerative practices improve colony health and reduce Varroa mite infestation — giving beekeepers a science-backed story.
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Expanded services organic beekeepers can provide — using hive data to improve organic food-system integrity and verify healthy agricultural landscapes.
"Land use and forage loss are the biggest challenges facing the apiculture industry today. We need to ensure the agricultural system provides forage and habitat for bees and all pollinators."
Dr. Marla Spivak, MacArthur Fellow & Distinguished Entomologist
Support the beekeeper. Support the bee.
Give a direct gift at any level, or partner with us on terms built around your goals.
Leadership Role $300K+
Sponsor a Regenerative Organic Beekeeper Study Site
Fund a skilled beekeeper and staff managing one full pilot site — the human expertise and day-to-day management that makes everything else possible.
$100
Sponsor a Regenerative Organic Beekeeper Study Site
Supports one hive in a regenerative organic pilot program.
$1K
Regional Pilot Supporter
Sponsor a yard — help place hives on or near an existing organic farm.
$10k
Observational Study Supporter
Funds honey-purity & bee-health research at KSU, MSU, or UNL.
$40K
Public Outreach Sponsor
Funds PR, a mini-documentary & conference participation.
$25k
Study Site Contributor
Covers one-third of a study site's annual establishment & maintenance.
$60K
Honey Integrity & Testing
Supports two years of honey testing at one study site.
$75K
Beekeeper & Equipment Sponsor
Sponsors a beekeeper and full equipment kit to join the program.
$250K
Full Pilot Program
Hives, research, leadership & management at one complete site.
$500K – $1.5M · Transform the Industry
Turn private investment into national impact.
Help us build a funding portfolio that transforms this pilot into something national. With $3.5M in private investment, we can grow our Bees as Biosensors study into a $5M+ program for regenerative domestic organic apiculture, leveraging federal research dollars and university partnerships at KSU, MSU, and UNL to multiply every dollar contributed. Funds support beekeeper participation and compensation, honey integrity testing, the Bees as Biosensors pilot, and a contribution toward the American Honey Institute at KSU, a first-of-its-kind national center for beekeeping education, research, and certification. This is the infrastructure the industry has never had. Your investment builds it.
$500K
National Regenerative Fund
National expansion at multiple sites + a seat on the Advisory Board.
Support the producer. Protect the pollinator.
The bees were never the only endangered species. The beekeepers were. Back the people who steward them — and the standard that can finally pay them what their honey is worth.
Meet the Team
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Douglas Raggio
CHAIR OF RAWG
Founder of Pass the Honey. Douglas has spent years building the domestic honeycomb market and knows firsthand what it takes to bring transparent, high-quality American honey to scale. -
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Frank Golbeck
CO-CHAIR OF RAWG
Founder of Golden Coast Mead in Oceanside, CA. Frank built his business on the integrity of the honey going into it — and has seen what fraud does to that foundation.
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Emily Rajcic
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Leads RAWG’s regenerative apiculture programs, overseeing pilot sites, hive health research, and community-based initiatives to protect pollinators and strengthen sustainable food systems.
Invest in the HIVE today.
"The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others." — St. John Chrysostom