Jim Hartman

Jim is the founder/owner of Secret Garden Bees, an upscale honey and jelly farm in Cumberland County, NC with sales across 24 states and in over 170 stores. The farm is a SBA Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business and a NC Historically Underutilized Business.

Jim was selected as the 2024 NC Small Farmer of the Year, 2023 American Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Peoples Choice, and has won numerous other awards. Before starting the farm, Jim served ten years in the Army first in the Field Artillery and then as an EOD (Bomb Disposal) Technician. Jim left the army in 2008 after his second tour in Iraq and began a 14 year career as a Project Manager with Booz Allen Hamilton. He is a registered Project Management Professional and holds an MBA.

Jim volunteers his spare time with the county “Boots to Agriculture” program and with the Veterans Farm of NC teaching other Veteran Farmers how to get started. He also serves on the NC State Workforce Development Commission, the NC Farm Bureau state Apiary advisory committee, and on the advisory board for the NC CEFS Agriculture Apprenticeship Program.