The Issues
Bees are essential to life as we know it, and they are dying at an unprecedented rate
Healthy Bees, Healthy Humans
Almonds, blueberries, apples, cherries and more – honey bees pollinate 80% of flowering plants in the U.S. In fact, one-third of our diet – our favorite foods that keep us healthy and happy – needs bees to grow.
It is not just fruits and vegetables that are at risk of disappearing from our plates. The decline in the bee population also can affect the availability of meat and dairy as bees pollinate the plants cows, sheep, and goats like to eat, too.
From bringing us the foods we eat, and oils we use to cook, to the fibers in the clothes we wear, honey bees are vital to human wellbeing.
Bees are also an important economic driver. Honey bees add $15 billion a year to the U.S. economy, according to the USDA. The sale of honey contributes another $3.2 million annually. (Currently, the US only produces only 25% of the honey it needs to satisfy demand.)
Did you know?
Honey bees pollinate more than 130 different fruits and veggies.
In total, pollinators contribute $200 billion annually to the U.S. economy, mainly in agriculture.
Honey ranks as America’s #1 preferred sweetener due to the health and ecological benefits.
Honey Bee Colony Loss
From April 2022 to April 2023, beekeepers across the U.S. reported losing nearly 50% of their hives – the highest number in more than a decade and nearly 10% greater than last year’s loss average, according to the Bee Informed Partnership.
Figure 1. Seasonal managed honey bee colony loss rates in the United States across years. The loss rate was calculated as the total number of colonies lost divided by the number of colonies at risk during the season. Source: Bee Informed Partnership
Healthy Bees, Healthy Planet
As pollinators, bees are essential to our ecosystem. Considered a keystone species, bees play an outsize role in a healthy environment. Nearly all the world’s seed plants, from pine trees to wildflowers, owe their existence to bees. In turn, these plants clean our air and water, enrich and stabilize the soil, and provide wild animals with food and shelter for survival.
Butterflies, birds, bats, and other insects all help with plant fertilization but it’s the bees that do the heavy lifting. (Literally. A bee can carry up to one-third of its body weight in pollen). A single honey bee may travel up to six miles per day to visit around 1,500 flowers, collecting and distributing pollen all along the way.
Day in the life of a honey bee
Think you know bees? This worker's daily routine will surprise you.
Bee Facts
The Plight of the Honey Bee
Declining bee populations affect our economy, our food supply, and our overall health. A future without bees is a bleak one, indeed.
So, what’s hurting our honey bees? As with most things in the natural world, the answer is complicated but boils down to three major factors: pesticides, pathogens, and poor nutrition – all made worse by climate change.
1. Pesticides
Whether sprayed, applied as a seed coating, or drenched in the dirt, the widespread use of certain pesticides in agriculture and landscaping hurts bees. In addition to killing bees outright, pesticides harm these pollinators in other ways. When honey bees are exposed to pesticides in pollen, on plant leaves, or in the soil, they have trouble with flight and navigation, learning, and tasting – all which affect their ability to forage for food. Pesticide exposure also impacts bee immunity, making them more susceptible to parasites and viruses.
2. Pathogens
It’s not just hungry bears and marauding mice that can decimate a hive, honey bee colonies risk obliteration from parasites, viruses, fungi and bacteria. The biggest threat to bees from a parasite is the aptly named Varroa destructor mite. No bigger than the period at the end of this sentence, varroa mites feed on bees and their young and spread disease. Bacteria like the highly contagious American Foulbrood, and viruses such as Deformed Wing and Sacbrood also can quickly devastate entire bee colonies. Fungi such as nosema can cause extreme illness and prolonged death.
3. Poor Nutrition
Like us, bees need good, clean food to thrive. Pollen and nectar collected from a wide array of flowering plants, provide bees with a healthy diet rich in protein, carbohydrates, and essential minerals. Access to a diversity of flowers and the variety of nutrients they offer is critical to pollinator health. Without this food diversity – either because of habitat loss, or due to their work pollinating large single crops like almonds or blueberries – honey bees can suffer from poor nutrition, making them weaker, smaller, and more vulnerable to pesticides and disease.
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