An entomologist at Washington State University said Tuesday that US honeybee colonies are projected to fall by as much as 70% in 2025.
In a press release, the university said in a press release that over the past decade, honeybee colony losses average between 40-50% per year. However, this year, a combination of nutritional deficiencies, mites infections, viral diseases, and potential pesticide exposure during the previous pollination season has resulted in higher losses, according to the release.
“Loss is steadily increasing,” said Priya Chakrabarti Basu, assistant professor of pollinator health and aquaculture at WSU, in a press release. “The demand for pollination has not been lowered, so beekeepers are faced with great pressure to maintain the same number of colonies to meet those needs.”
The meaning can be enormous.
According to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, around 35% of food in the world relies on pollinators.
Brandon Hopkins, professor of pollinator ecology at WSU, said in a statement with the release that higher losses could also lead to higher costs for farmers who rely on bee colonies.
“I don’t want to be a terrifying person, but this level of national loss could mean an increase in bankruptcy among beekeepers,” Hopkins said. “For example, growers of crops downstream of almonds may need to scramble whether the beekeepers they relied on pollinating apple trees are no longer in business.”
Honey beads had a production value of approximately $350 million in 2023, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Hopkins added that extreme honeybee colonies also put the almond industry at particular risk this year.
“The almond industry is frequently seeking strong colonies, but this year growers are desperate,” Hopkins said. “Everything that has live bees in the box is in demand due to the lack of supply in the industry.”
“I haven’t heard of it since the colony collapsed around 2008,” he added.
