Rufer Apiaries Inc.

Darrel Rufer
Waverly, Minn. & West River, S.D.

Darrel Rufer was a seasoned chef at a fine-dining restaurant in Minneapolis in 1977 when a bevy of bees changed his life forever.

“I walked out of the restaurant and there was a swarm of bees hanging in the tree outside,” he said. “I shook it into a box, I strapped the box to the back of my motorcycle and I took it home. That was my first year in beekeeping.”

Today, Rufer Apiaries, Inc. is among the top honey producers in the Sioux Honey Co-Op, with more than 5,200 colonies of honeybees in Minnesota and South Dakota.

During the winter months, Darrel operates out of Milam, Texas, where he prepares honeybees and queens that are shipped by the hundreds to several Sioux Honey farmers throughout the country.

Meet Darrel