MOULTRIE — Local beekeeping company Rossman Apiaries was a part of the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition for several years before deciding to leave. It was brought back, however, thanks to customer requests.

Owner Fred Rossman said the company partnered with the Georgia Beekeepers Association to have a booth in the Family Living section for many of Expo’s 30 years. He decided to leave, however, because he felt Expo was not in his company’s best interests.

Customers would come to the apiaries office on many occasions and asked why Rossman Apiaries was not represented at Expo, Rossman said. In fact, the customers would say there was no representation of beekeepers at all once Rossman left.

About five years ago, Rossman said he bought a spot at Expo again, but he decided to have an outside lot instead of being at the Family Living area. Having the outside lot gave the company more room to display its equipment and other items about beekeeping.

Rossman said Expo has opened up the company to people throughout the United States. People from all over the country have placed orders with Rossman Apiaries, many at the exhibit itself, and Rossman believes being back at Expo has helped to fuel that exposure.

“It has helped us more than it has hurt us,” Rossman said.

Anyone who visits the Rossman Apiaries exhibit will see samples of wooden beekeeping equipment made by the company, Rossman said. There are also books and equipment for processing honey and a variety of honey products and beeswax candles for sale.

Rossman said a large draw to the exhibit is a display of a honeycomb filled with honeybees busy at work. Visitors often watch in amazement as the honeybees work within the contained honeycomb.

A concern among beekeepers is the rise of the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), but Rossman said he has not been affected by the disease. It is believed the disease has come to the United States from imported Australian honeybees. His honeybees are an Italian strain of honeybee with some genetic crosses but not imported bees.

Few people realize it, but Rossman said honeybees are extremely important to the world’s food sources. About one-third of all U.S. crops are pollinated by honeybees, and Albert Einstein once said the world would have four years or less to survive if bees were wiped off the Earth.