The Honey Bee Health Coalition is calling attention to honeybee loss and calling for continued collaboration. 

The challenge:

A national survey showed 40% of managed honey bee colonies in the United States were lost between April 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018.

Beekeepers reported a 30.7% loss rate over the winter. These losses, tracked by the Bee Informed Partnership, were a nearly 7 percentage points increase for annual loss rates and nearly 10% for overwintering loss compared to the previous year’s loss rates.

The Bee Informed Partnership also tracked summer-season colony mortality and found that beekeepers’ losses of 17.9% of their managed colonies was on par with the previous year’s loss rate. 

Related: 40% of bee colonies died unexpectedly in last year

What are beekeepers saying?

“From hurricanes along the Gulf Coast to the Midwestern drought — which affected my own operation — to wildfires in the West, this has been a challenging year for beekeepers,” said Chris Hiatt, vice president of the American Honey Producers Association. “The Honey Bee Health Coalition and its partners have made important progress improving honey bee health, but these colony-loss numbers and environmental challenges only underscore that we still have work to do.” 

“While the Honey Bee Health Coalition is concerned by these reported losses, I am optimistic that the problems facing beekeepers are closer to being resolved,” said Kentucky State Apiarist Tammy Horn. “The Coalition strives to develop new approaches to improve nutrition, educate our community about Varroa mites and treatments, advocate for IPM practices that protect bees from incidental pesticide exposure, and increase communication among all sectors of agriculture.” 

“Beekeepers, farmers, businesses, and NGOs have made tremendous progress supporting honey bee health. But more collaboration and broad-based strategies are needed to reduce colony losses,” said Julie Shapiro, the facilitator of the Honey Bee Health Coalition and a senior policy director at the Keystone Policy Center. “The Honey Bee Health Coalition is committed to continuing to bring together diverse organizations to find action-driven solutions to improve honey bee forage and nutrition, reduce incidental pesticide exposure, support sound hive management practices, and enhance collaboration and communication.”

Why care about bees?

Honey bees play an essential role in North American agriculture and global food supplies — with bees supporting approximately one in three bites of the food we eat every day.

What is the Honey Bee Health Coalition?

It’s a diverse group of nearly 50 organizations working to support honey bee and pollinator health. The Coalition has worked since 2014 to collaboratively implement solutions that will help to achieve a healthy population of honey bees while also supporting healthy populations of native and managed pollinators in the context of productive agricultural systems and thriving ecosystems. 

What has the Honey Bee Health Coalition done?

Recent initiatives include:

Source: Honey Bee Health Coalition