A Focus on Family and Community
For Josh Sanders, what began as a new hobby launched a thriving full-time family business and community staple.
“About 12 years ago, I traded a deer rifle for ten beehives,” Josh said. “I didn’t know anything about bees. I did it on a whim.”
“A little pickup truck and a sixteen-foot trailer. That’s all he had,” added his wife, Jamie. “He learned as he went.”
Today, Josh and Jamie own Sanders Honey Company, managing 1,500 beehives scattered across the region and operating a bustling retail shop in the heart of Waycross, Georgia. The business is vertically integrated, meaning Josh, Jamie, and their three children, Ansleigh, Allie and Jordan, oversee honey from hive to sale.
“We have hands on every part of the process to get it into the bottle,” said Jamie. “The customer can have confidence that they’re getting local, pure, raw and unfiltered honey.”
The beekeeping and honey process begins with box hives strategically placed throughout the South Georgia woods, where bees can pollinate native flora like gallberries and blooming wildflowers. The Sanders then collect frames from their hives and transport them to the operation’s “honey house,” where honey and comb are extracted, packaged and labeled. Finally, honey is sold wholesale or at the Sanders Honey Company retail shop.
The shop offers a wide array of Sanders Honey products, including honeycomb slices, honey straws, best-selling jars of creamed honey and “Pecans ’n Honey,” made with local Georgia pecans. Shelves are also stocked with jams, jellies, pickles and other locally made goods, a testament to the family’s commitment to supporting Georgia-owned farms and small businesses.
“When we sell items here, we try to keep it as small and as Georgia as possible,” said Jamie. “It supports other farmers here in South Georgia. We know how much we appreciate support that helped get the business going. And that’s what it’s about—helping each other out.”
The Sanders built their storefront in an old auto service building. They currently lease extra space to a popular local coffee shop and have expanded to serving ice cream in the shared café space.
“We’ve repurposed this entire place into somewhere where families can come,” said Jamie. “And that’s something we wanted for the community to have.”
A Reliable Partnership
As the Sanders have grown and expanded their business, they’ve found a strong, consistent partner in AgSouth Farm Credit.
“After a few years, they wanted to expand their business, so they came to me for a loan for bee boxes and bees,” said Dan Good, loan officer in Blackshear, Georgia who’s partnered with the Sanders for more than a decade. “Then we did the retail store in Waycross.”
For Josh and Jamie, AgSouth’s strong agricultural knowledge is what sets their services apart.
“With AgSouth, they know the possible struggles of a farmer,” said Josh.
As customer-owners of their local Farm Credit cooperative, Josh and Jamie also receive a yearly Patronage return, which helps lower the cost of borrowing for farmers and ranchers in Georgia and beyond. Paired with the strong relationships loan officers build with each unique operation, Farm Credit associations like AgSouth are equipped to best support farmers and ranchers—in good times and bad.
“Dan, he’s been alongside us the whole way,” Jamie said. “He knows what challenges Josh may face and what needs he may have, financially and otherwise, and that’s one thing that stands out with AgSouth versus some of the other lending institutions.”
As the Sanders look toward the future, family, quality and community remain at the forefront of their mission.
“What we hope for the future right now is to keep on producing a quality product,” Josh said. “And possibly, one day, maybe Jordan will take over the business!”
