That’s just honey sales, not taking into account nuc sales or queen sales, both of which I have done with moderate success.
You must be in a southern location. I’m in Michigan and found my overwintering losses increasing until my last two years ended with 100% loss. One of my first hives lasted 11 years others generally 3 years until the last few years losses became a real problem. It also may be that I’m surrounded by farms and some change in the farm practices may have affected my bees.
Yes the main profit would be in the land. Buying and selling land has been very good for me.
i totally applaud your creative thinking on this, but using legal trickery to back fill wetlands, for profit and zero altruism, is pretty darn lousy imho. if you can pull this off, the back filling and subsequent construction activity will stress the wetland ecosystem. I am alarmed at the ratio you want to back fill as well, 1/3 acre of a 2 acre plot. you can build a house anywhere and improve property value, but we can’t build new wetlands. i just don’t see the profitability of converting wetlands but that’s probably because i’ve spent many years working hard conserving them!
I am no expert, but in my Southern state a permit to fill in wetlands requires that you create and protect an equal amount of wetland within the same watershed (to prevent flooding). YMMV.
Update: I purchased the land and closed in April of this year. I avoided uncapping by leasing the land prior to closing so I could “farm” it before purchase. I submitted paperwork to get the ag exemption and it was granted. As of a few days ago, the EPA announced a new proposed rule which will (almost certainly) go into effect to redefine the Waters of the United States Rule. Wetlands not immediately adjacent to a lake will no longer be subject to the jurisdiction of the EPA. This means my land will be in theory completely buildable in approximately 3 months.
This is my current obstacle. My state has an independent policy that mirrors the EPA. I suspect that there won’t be an issue as there are already bills to change wetlands regulation pending in my state’s legislature which seem to narrow the jurisdiction. (And this new EPA announcement may embolden the Republican legislature.)
