USDA NASS 2022 Ag Census Sparks Debate Over Honey Bee Inhabitants Reporting
California, April 9, 2024 – The USDA NASS 2022 Ag Census reported a file prime 3.8 million honey bee colonies in america, an build up of 25% over the past bi decade census. Alternatively, those USDA numbers without delay contradict the similar company’s personal every year honey document and honey bee document. The ones studies estimate honey bee inhabitants numbers between 2.5 and a pair of.9 million colonies respectively for the very same yr (2022), and feature constantly reported honey bee colonies in that vary for years.
Some media retailers have advised that the most recent numbers outcome from a upward push in beekeeping reputation as a pastime in each rural and concrete spaces. The truth is that hobbyists make up roughly 95% of the full selection of beekeepers however best organize 7% of the full selection of colonies in step with the 2022 Nationwide Colony Loss and Control (BIP 2022). Thus, this rationalization isn’t most likely.
The discrepancies are much more likely because of a mix of things. First, the 5-year Ag Census method comprises surveying farms which “host” colonies, however don’t seem to be essentially beekeeping operations themselves. Beekeepers and their business honey bee colonies are migratory, which means they’re hosted on other lands and regularly by way of other land house owners all over the yr. Surveying host farms may subsequently lead to double and even triple counting the similar colonies. For instance, it’s not peculiar for a beekeeper to iciness his honey bee colonies in Mississippi, transfer them to California for almond pollination in February and convey honey with those self same colonies in the summertime in North Dakota.
2d, USDA NASS showed that this Ag Census had a low reaction charge, leading to using adjustment components to extrapolate effects. Whilst it’s unclear how those changes impacted the consequences, it should give a contribution to the considerable discrepancies relative to annual surveys that experience extra powerful and dependable participation by way of business beekeepers.
Irrespective of the explanations for those discrepancies, a variety of issues stay true for business beekeepers. Colonies to be had for business pollination (the bees essential to pollinate our country’s forte vegetation) have now not materially greater during the last decade regardless of considerable financial call for for them. Honey manufacturing has additionally persisted to say no in each absolute numbers and in per-colony numbers over the past 3 years (NASS Honey Record 2020, 2021, 2022). But marketplace call for for honey has greater exponentially. And in any case and maximum relevantly, beekeepers proceed to lose between 30-50% in their colonies each and every yr for the reason that early a part of the century. That is showed by way of each the yearly USDA NASS honey bee document and the Bee Knowledgeable Partnership Nationwide Loss and Control Survey carried out since 2008. Put merely, if The us’s beekeepers have been ready to amplify colony numbers by way of 25% in 5 years, they might have. The industrial incentive is there in pollination contracts and honey gross sales by myself. And if that they had certainly expanded honey bee colony numbers by way of 25%, wouldn’t the honey studies and pollination contracts information display it?
“Over the last 10-plus years, maximum beekeepers’ industry technique has fascinated about making up for the former yr’s losses and getting forward of subsequent yr’s predicted results. It’s just about not possible to make up for the losses, a lot much less build up the colony depend”, says Chris Hiatt, President of the American Honey Manufacturers Affiliation (AHPA) and proprietor of Hiatt Honey Corporate.
Researchers have known a couple of interacting components that give a contribution to prime losses. They come with panorama use and loss of to be had forage, greater pesticide publicity, the Varroa destructor mite, and different pests and pathogens. Moreover, fresh local weather developments and excessive climate patterns lead to compounded opposed results on forage and/or bee process.
“U.S. beekeepers rebuild their colony numbers yr after yr, scuffling with expanding operational prices and occasional honey costs, in order that they may be able to pollinate vegetation and make sure meals safety for the country” provides Chris Hiatt.
As the talk over honey bee populations continues to spread, it’s crucial to recognize the struggles and helpful contributions of beekeepers and prioritize efforts to reinforce their essential position in agricultural ecosystems.
American Honey Manufacturers Affiliation
For more information touch
Anne Marie Fauvel
Program Director
[email protected]
References
The USDA NASS 2022 Ag Census –
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2022/#full_report
USDA NASS (2022) Honey (March 2022). ISSN: 1949-1492. To be had at:
https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usdaesmis/information/hd76s004z/7m01cp956/df65wc389/hony0322.pdf
USDA NASS (2022) Honey Bee (August 2022) To be had at:
https://downloads.usda.library.cornell.edu/usda-esmis/information/rn301137d/kh04fx05c/qb98nn582/hcny0822.pdf
Andrew VanDam, Columnist, Division of Information, Washington Publish,
[email protected]
The Bee Knowledgeable Partnership, Colony Loss and Control Survey
https://beeinformed.org/citizen-science/loss-and-management-survey/
Steinhauer, N., Aurell, D., Bruckner, S., Wilson, M., Rennich, Okay., vanEngelsdorp, D., Williams, G., for the Bee Knowledgeable Partnership (2021). United States Honey Bee Colony Losses 2020-2021: Initial Effects.
https://beeinformed.org/wpcontent/uploads/2021/06/BIP_2020_21_Losses_Abstract_2021.06.14_FINAL_R1.pdf (Accessed 14 july 2022).
Bruckner, S., Wilson, M., Aurell, D., Rennich, Okay., vanEngelsdorp, D., Steinhauer, N., & Williams, G. R. (2023). A countrywide survey of controlled honey bee colony losses in the United States: effects from the Bee Knowledgeable Partnership for 2017–18, 2018–19, and 2019–20. Magazine of Apicultural Analysis, 62(3), 429–443. https://doi.org/10.1080/00218839.2022.2158586
Chris Hiatt, American Honey Manufacturers Affiliation President, [email protected]