US Honey Bee Populations Could Plummet 70% This Year

A recent press release by Washington State University (WSU) revealed some devastating truths about severe honey bee losses, and experts are growing concerned.

According to the press release, entomologists at WSU found that commercial honey bee colony losses could reach 60 to 70 percent in the U.S. this year. For reference, the past decade has experienced an average annual loss of around 40 to 50 percent.

Honey Bee Population Loss Could Reach 70% In the U.S. This Year

“Losses have been increasing steadily,” said Priya Chakrabarti Basu, an assistant professor of pollinator health and apiculture at WSU, in the press release. “Pollination demands haven’t gone down, so beekeepers face tremendous pressure to keep the same number of colonies to meet those needs.”

Basu suspects some potential causes of colony losses this season include nutrition deficiencies, mite infestations, viral diseases, and pesticide exposure, the press release reported.

Apparently, experts have seen this coming far before the season was even upon us.

“I’ve heard since last August that this was going to be a terrible year,” said Brandon Hopkins, a professor of pollinator ecology at WSU. “That seems to have come true.”

Each year, honeybees pollinate around $15 billion worth of crops in the U.S. Colony loss directly and majorly impacts the production of fruits, nuts, vegetables, and—of course—honey.

“If we see increasing colony losses, we could see a drop-off in honey production and an increase in the rent growers pay beekeepers to bring pollinators in,” Basu said. “We may just see some beekeepers cease operations completely because it’s too expensive to continue as a business.”

“I don’t want to be a fearmonger, but this level of national loss could mean increased bankruptcies amongst beekeepers,” Hopkins added. “Growers of crops downstream from almonds may need to scramble if the beekeeper they’ve relied on to pollinate their apple trees, for example, isn’t in business anymore.”