I've been looking at the Nicot system, too. I defnitely want to raise my own queens, for a number of reasons. If it's true that ferals are returning to my area, then there may well be ferals with mite resistance, so the gene pool would be interesting.
Also, I've twice been in situations this year where having an "extra" queen would have been handy. It turned out all right in both cases, but it taught me that when you only have a few hives (and therefore few options), growing your own isn't a bad idea at all.
Of course, given the miniscule size of my "operation," I could just rear queens by pulling frames from a strong colony and letting them raise their own in nucs. That would save money and trouble. :)
But I have been planning ahead. While I have plenty of land, I figure that 10-20 hives would be my max. I do have friends about 5 miles away, however, who have 130 acres, and they'd be happy to house some hives. I figure that's pretty perfect: not much overlap of foraging (it may be closer as the bee flies...), and being so close, it would be an easy "out yard" for me. And they'd appreciate the honey and pollination for their gardens. So it's a win-win, if I decide to expand big time.