Nate's Honey, the brand that grew into one of America's best known honey labels, prints a line of scripture on every bottle. Look at the front label of Nature Nate's, now marketed as Nate's Honey, and you will find Psalm 119:103: "Thy word is sweeter than honey." The man who put it there, founder Nathan "Nate" Sheets, no longer owns the company. He sold it to a private equity backed sweetener platform, resigned as chief executive in 2024, and is now the Republican nominee for Texas Agriculture Commissioner.
- Founder Nate Sheets put a Bible verse on every bottle, then sold to private equity.
- He won the 2026 Republican primary for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, beating a Trump backed incumbent.
- Its parent runs America's largest beekeeping operation, over 120,000 colonies pollinating California almond orchards.
- Its parent fought federal duties on imported Vietnamese honey and lost on appeal in 2025.
- A 2019 lawsuit challenged the pure, raw honey label; a Texas court dismissed it.
Quick Take
The most visible values signal on Nate's Honey is a Bible verse printed on every bottle, a holdover from founder Nathan Sheets. Sheets, an outspoken conservative Republican, sold the brand to a private equity backed sweetener company in 2022 and resigned as chief executive in 2024. Today the honey is owned by Sweet Harvest Foods, controlled by New York firm Blue Road Capital, and neither the brand nor its parent shows a federal PAC or lobbying record. Sheets himself is now the 2026 Republican nominee for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, endorsed by Governor Greg Abbott, though President Trump backed the incumbent in the primary.
A Scripture Verse on Every Bottle
Nate's Honey carries a line of scripture on its packaging, a practice that dates to founder Nathan Sheets. Retail listings for the 32 ounce squeeze bottle show the on label copy, including "Thy word is sweeter than honey. Ps. 119:103," and a 2025 product review confirmed the psalm reference still appears on the label [1][28]. Sheets served in ministry before honey became his full time work and helped drive the Christian "I Am Second" media campaign, and the brand's origins are steeped in that background [2].
Under Sheets, that identity was public and specific. The company was the presenting sponsor of the 2017 GMA Dove Awards, Christian music's top honors, and used the partnership to fund a child adoption grant through the ministry Show Hope [23]. In 2019 it earned a workplace certification from the Best Christian Workplaces Institute, an employee engagement ministry, for what the group called a strong commitment to Christian values [24].
The emphasis has shifted since the 2022 sale to a private equity backed parent. The verse remains on every label, and Nate's still lists ministries among the recipients of its honey donations, but the company's public messaging now centers on product quality, agriculture, and community giving rather than the overt Christian identity of the founder years [3].
Where the Money Goes, and Where It Does Not
No federal political action committee and no federal lobbying registration appear on record for Nate's Honey, for its parent Sweet Harvest Foods, or for Sweet Harvest's private equity owner, Blue Road Capital [4]. Those figures are federal only. Contributions to state committees, in Texas where the brand is based or Minnesota where Sweet Harvest is based, are not part of the federal record and were not examinable at primary source for this profile.
A missing PAC does not mean the company stays out of government policy. In 2022 the federal government put antidumping duties (tariffs meant to offset foreign goods sold below cost) on raw honey from Vietnam. Sweet Harvest Foods was the lead plaintiff in the court challenge that followed, alongside other honey importers and the National Honey Packers and Dealers Association.
Their challenge targeted not the duties themselves but a "critical circumstances" finding, which let the government backdate the duties by 90 days to catch a surge of imports before the order took effect. The Court of International Trade upheld the government in 2023, and the Federal Circuit affirmed in October 2025 [22]. It was a fight over trade policy and the honey supply, fought on commercial lines rather than partisan ones.
The brand's founder built a reputation for giving, but through charity rather than campaigns. Sheets worked with the National Christian Foundation to make non cash gifts of company stock, and he started Honey Gives Hope, a program that funds bee health research and donates honey to food banks, hospitals, and ministries [5]. The program has continued under the new owner: in 2025 it distributed more than 17,000 pounds of honey to over ten food banks and funded honey bee research at Cornell, the University of California, Davis, and the University of Texas at Dallas [25]. That giving is philanthropic, not political.
The Founder's Politics, and His Exit
Nathan Sheets is a self described conservative Republican, a Navy veteran, and a follower of Jesus who built one of the best selling branded honey companies in America from a single backyard beehive [6]. In January 2022 he sold Nature Nate's to Sweet Harvest Foods, part of the Blue Road Capital portfolio, staying on as chief executive and the largest minority shareholder [7]. He resigned as chief executive in 2024 [8], then left the company's board in May 2025 to run for Texas Agriculture Commissioner [19]. He campaigned on clean food under a "Make Agriculture Healthy Again" theme and has said he backs President Trump's position on tariffs [9]. The race split the party's top names: Governor Greg Abbott endorsed Sheets, while President Trump backed incumbent Sid Miller with an endorsement on the final night of early voting [10]. Sheets won anyway, unseating the three term incumbent in the March 3, 2026 primary and advancing to the November general election against Democrat Clayton Tucker [20]. Sheets's politics are his own, and he no longer runs the honey brand.
Who Owns Nate's Honey Now
The brand is owned by Sweet Harvest Foods, one of the largest honey packers in North America, based in Cannon Falls, Minnesota [11], and led by chief executive Michael Carle, who rose from finance chief to CEO in 2024 and also serves as president of Nate's Honey [21]. Sweet Harvest was acquired by the New York private equity firm Blue Road Capital in 2021 and added Nature Nate's the following year [12]. As of late 2025, Sweet Harvest still described itself as the parent company of Nate's Honey [13]. In early 2024, Blue Road launched a review that could lead to a sale of Sweet Harvest, according to industry reporting; no completed transaction has been announced [14].
What They Sell
Nate's sells 100 percent pure, raw, and unfiltered honey, the product category it helped popularize, along with flavored honeys, hot honey, nut butters and fruit spreads, and Manuka honey lozenges [15]. The company emphasizes purity, marketing internal and third party testing and a purity guarantee on the label, and screening for contaminants and adulteration [16]. That purity claim has been tested in court. A 2019 consumer class action in federal court in Texas alleged the honey was heated past the point at which it counts as raw and that lab tests found added syrup. Nate's denied the allegations. In 2020 the court granted its motion to dismiss, throwing out the fraud claims, one of them with prejudice. The case never produced a ruling that the honey was adulterated or mislabeled [27].
Nate's has long been described as the number one branded honey in the United States [17], and its supply chain now runs through its own hives. Its parent operates Nate's Hives, which it calls the largest beekeeping operation in the country, with more than 120,000 honey bee colonies, and in 2026 deployed nearly 100,000 of them to pollinate California's almond orchards [26].
Where to Find Them
Nate's Honey is based in McKinney, Texas, and sells through most major grocery and club retailers, including Walmart, Costco, Kroger, Sam's Club, Target, Sprouts, and Amazon, and online at nateshoney.com [18].
Footnotes
[1] Safeway, "Nature Nates Honey Bottle 32 Oz," product listing, accessed August 2026. https://www.safeway.com/shop/product-details.960167542.html
[2] Nature Nate's, "Our Story: Beyond A Honey Company," accessed August 2026. https://www.naturenates.com.au/our-story-post/
[3] Nate's Honey, company homepage, accessed August 2026. https://nateshoney.com/
[4] Federal Election Commission and OpenSecrets records, searched August 2026; no PAC or federal lobbying registration found for Nature Nate's Honey, Sweet Harvest Foods, or Blue Road Capital. https://www.opensecrets.org/
[5] National Christian Foundation, "Nathan Sheets: The sweetest kind of impact," accessed August 2026. https://www.ncfgiving.com/stories/nathan-sheets-and-nature-nates-honey/
[6] Nate Sheets campaign, "About Nate Sheets," accessed August 2026. https://natesheets.com/about-nate-sheets/
[7] Business Wire, "Nature Nate's Honey Co. Merges with Sweet Harvest Foods," January 4, 2022. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220104005072/en/
[8] Kate McGee, Texas Tribune, "Gov. Abbott endorses Nate Sheets over Sid Miller for agriculture commissioner," January 21, 2026. https://www.texastribune.org/2026/01/21/texas-abbott-endorse-nate-sheets-ag-commissioner/
[9] WFAA, "Founder of Nature Nate's Honey explains how he would help farmers as Texas Agriculture Commissioner," October 31, 2025. https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/politics/inside-politics/texas-politics/nature-nates-honey-founder-explains-how-help-farmers-as-texas-agriculture-commissioner/287-897638b8-46dc-4115-abeb-20c170cff686
[10] Ballotpedia, "Nate Sheets," accessed August 2026. https://ballotpedia.org/Nate_Sheets
[11] PE Professional, "One Sweet Deal. Blue Road Buys Nature Nate's Honey," January 6, 2022. https://peprofessional.com/2022/01/one-sweet-deal-blue-road-buys-nates-honey/
[12] Sweet Harvest Foods, "Blue Road Capital Announces the Purchase of Sweet Harvest Foods," April 5, 2021. https://sweetharvestfoods.com/blue-road-capital-announces-the-purchase-of-sweet-harvest-foods/
[13] GlobeNewswire, "Sweet Harvest Foods Launches Inaugural Research Grant Program to Advance Honey Bee Health and Beekeeping Innovation," October 21, 2025.
[14] PE Hub, "Blue Road to test appetite for Sweet Harvest Foods," February 2024. https://www.pehub.com/blue-road-to-test-appetite-for-sweet-harvest/
[15] Nate's Honey, company homepage, accessed August 2026. https://nateshoney.com/
[16] Nate Sheets campaign, "About Nate Sheets," accessed August 2026. https://natesheets.com/about-nate-sheets/
[17] Maria Halkias, Dallas Morning News, "Nature Nate's Honey of McKinney, the largest honey brand in the U.S., finds a sweet deal," January 4, 2022. https://www.dallasnews.com/business/retail/2022/01/04/mckinney-based-nature-nates-honey-has-been-sold/
[18] Nate's Honey, company homepage, accessed August 2026. https://nateshoney.com/
[19] J.D. Miles, CBS News Texas, "North Texas beekeeper turns to politics to save bees, launching campaign for Texas Agriculture Commissioner," May 20, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/texas-beekeeper-save-bees-campaign-for-texas-agriculture-commissioner/
[20] Steven Rosenbaum and Sergio Candido, CBS News Texas, "Nate Sheets defeats Sid Miller in Republican primary for Texas agriculture commissioner," March 4, 2026. https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/republican-agriculture-commissioner-primary-results/
[21] Sweet Harvest Foods, "Our Leadership Team," accessed August 2026. https://sweetharvestfoods.com/who-we-are/our-leadership-team/
[22] United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, "Sweet Harvest Foods v. United States," Nos. 2024-1370, 2024-1371, decided October 15, 2025. https://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions-orders/24-1370.OPINION.10-15-2025_2587907.pdf
[23] Gospel Music Association, "Nature Nate's Announced as Presenting Sponsor of the 48th Annual GMA Dove Awards," September 7, 2017. https://doveawards.com/nature-nates-announced-as-presenting-sponsor-of-the-48th-annual-gma-dove-awards/
[24] Nature Nate's Honey Co., "Nature Nate's Honey Co. Receives 2019 Best Places to Work Certification by Best Christian Workplaces Institute," December 23, 2019. https://www.naturenates.com/nature-nates-honey-co-receives-2019-best-places-to-work-certification-by-best-christian-workplaces-institute/
[25] Nate's Honey, "Nature Nate's Honey Co. Spreads Hope with 2025 Donations," December 16, 2025. https://nateshoney.com/nature-nates-honey-co-spreads-hope-with-2025-donations/
[26] Sweet Harvest Foods, "Nate's Hives Scales Operations as Largest Almond Pollinator while Helping to Advance Honey Bee Health Research," March 2, 2026. https://sweetharvestfoods.com/nates-hives-scales-operations-as-largest-almond-pollinator-while-helping-to-advance-honey-bee-health-research/
[27] Pierce v. North Dallas Honey Company, No. 3:19-cv-00410 (N.D. Tex.), Memorandum Opinion and Order, March 3, 2020. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/texas/txndce/3:2019cv00410/313356/23/
[28] Sporked, "The Best Honey to Buy (Including Hot Honey, Manuka Honey, and Raw Honey)," March 5, 2025. https://sporked.com/article/best-honey/
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