Beekeepers help environment
and produce honey-based goods
Most people don’t picture spending their summer working in full-body suits in the heat and traveling across nearly 1,000 square miles.
For Zach and Rheanna Pederson, it’s just another day running Dakota Honey Company, a family-owned honey producer caring for nearly 3,000 hives across western South Dakota.
Dakota Honey Company sells honey and honey-based food products through its website and in stores statewide. Their products include premium grade clover honey, honey barbeque sauce, hot honey, flavored spun honey, and more. As beekeepers, Zach and Rheanna make spreads and sauces from their bees’ hard work, which also benefits agriculture around them.
“Bees help grasslands all year and increase crop yields for farmers. As with any livestock, it’s a lot of work making sure the bees are going in the right direction,” Zach says. “It’s really fun and rewarding because you’re actually helping the environment around you every day.”
Hard work, quality honey
Beekeeping is a year-round job with changing duties throughout the seasons. During spring and early summer, plants pop up and bees pollinate and make honey for their hives.
Toward the middle of the summer, Zach collects and harvests the honey, which is then extracted and stored in barrels and holding tanks. The end result is a light-colored honey, a characteristic of honey produced by bees pollinating clover. Many people prefer its taste over store-bought honey that typically contains additives.
“People might think the lighter color of our honey is because it’s watered down, but it’s the opposite,” Zach says. “Honey is the third most adulterated (diluted) product in stores. Honey on the shelves is usually blended with foreign honey that can be adulterated with things like rice syrup.”
Rheanna occasionally tags along with Zach to their many colonies to take photos and videos for their social media. When she isn’t capturing footage in a full beekeeping suit, Rheanna works behind the scenes sending out online orders, developing new honey products, keeping up on the books, and helping with other office duties.
Ideal environment for growth
Zach’s father, Loren, jumped into the beekeeping business with two business partners in 1996. They acquired an operation that had relocated from Michigan to Winner after discovering the area would be perfect for bees.
“Western South Dakota is a very good area for honey,” Zach says. “There’s a lot of alfalfa ground and rolling hills along the river system that produce a lot of clover.”
Zach and Rheanna met in 2017 and got married in 2019. Rheanna began working as an accountant and helping Zach as he took over his father’s portion of the beekeeping business in 2022. Zach and Rheanna started Dakota Honey Company to sell their honey directly to consumers. As the business grew, Rheanna went full time with the honey business to expand on their foundation.
“I had a vision for the business, so I started creating some honey products,” Rheanna says. “I did it on the side along with my full-time job, and there were a lot of weekends and late nights. I love messing with recipes and creating new things.”
Adding to the hive
Zach and Rheanna sell their products in stores around South Dakota and online. They appreciate how Golden West helps keep things running smoothly.
“When we took over the business, the Golden West technicians were always quick to help,” Rheanna says. “Everything is so simple. You can call and talk to somebody extremely fast.”
The couple worked for years to build an online following. Today they reach tens of thousands of followers on social media where they announce honey products, share photos and videos of their workday, and explain how beekeeping works. They can travel beyond their hives online to connect with people across the country.
“The internet has really allowed us to open people’s eyes to beekeeping,” Zach says. “It changed everything now because it gets our names out there for more exposure.”
Along with their online reach they also attribute much of their success to their community in Winner. The second-generation beekeepers appreciate how the community helps one another.
“You can’t really pick a better spot to build a business. Everyone locally treats us so well and constantly support and promote us,” Rheanna says. “The whole town is involved in community events, whether that’s attending high school football games or helping fundraise for a local benefit. Everyone just rallies behind each other to help,” Zach adds.
