Finding growers for pollination contracts

[Paladin]

I'm looking for advice on finding growers in North Carolina for pollination services and prices to charge. How many hives should I have at full strength (10 frames) before I approach a grower to offer services? How can I find growers in my area? Also, where can I find out when the various crops are ready for pollination, so I can get an idea of a schedule.

From what I've read, it looks like for most crops in my area, I need about 2 hives per acre on average. I'm thinking that with 10 hives, I should only approach small growers with about 5-10 acres of crop, but I don;t know how to find them.

[Rader Sidetrack]

Here's a place to start:
http://www.pickyourown.org/NCpiedmont.htm
This only covers farms that offer U-pick, but that may get you most in the size you are seeking.

Also you can contact the local County Extension Agent:
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/local-county-center/

[hpm08161947]

Another possibility is throwing in with a larger pollinator. A coupla fairly large pollinators come from up your way each spring to do blue berries.

[minz]

I had a guy at the gym approach me about what it takes to keep bees. His primary reason was that his church friend wanted / needed more pollination services for his U-pick blueberry operation. He had great success with paying but said the cost was outrageous so only did it one year.
Short story long, I was thinking of just dropping off a few hives on his couple of acres and using them as him new out yard. I would hate to undercut a real beek just to free up space in my yard. He may even kick in money for gas?