68
ILLUSTRATION
BY
GEORGE
WYLESOL.
DATA:
U.S.
DEPARTMENT
OF
AGRICULTURE
Since hitting a low point in 2008, beset by the
apocalyptic-soundingcolonycollapsedisorder,America’s
honeybeeshavebeenonthecomebacktrail.Thenum-
berofcoloniestheU.S.DepartmentofAgriculturecounts
isbackuptoalmost3 million,a levellastseeninthe
early1990s.
BeekeepersintheU.S.continuetoloseabout40%of
theircoloniesannually,though,accordingtothenonprofit
BeeInformedPartnership.Itssurveys,whichdateto2006,
don’tshowa cleartrend,butresearchershaveestimated
that yearly lossesbefore 2000 weremuchlower.Colony
numbers canstillriseinthefaceofsuchlosses,becauseit
takes only acoupleofmonthstogetoneupandrunning,
but all does notseemwellwiththebees.
Most losseslastwinterwereattributednottocolony
collapse disorderbuttomoremundanecausessuchas
starvation andpests.Honeybeesseemtohavebecome
generally morevulnerable,withtwooft-fingeredculprits
being the varroamite,a parasiteoriginallyfromAsiathat
first appearedintheU.S.inthelate1980s,andthewide-
spreaduseofneonicotinoidpesticidesbyU.S.farmers
startinginthelate1990s.
Thetroublesofthehoneybee,a domesticatedspecies
not native totheU.S.,havebeenlinkedtoconcerns
about droppinginsectnumbersworldwide.Butit’snot
clear that insectsingeneralareonthedeclineinNorth
America.Ajust-publishedsurveyofdatagatheredat
25 monitoringstationsaroundtheU.S.startingaslongago
as 1976 foundinsectpopulationchangestobe“generally
indistinguishablefromzero.”<BW>Foxisa columnistfor
Bloomberg Opinion
◼ LAST THING
●SOURTASTE
TheUSDAcounted
a record5.9million
honeybeecolonies
in 1947,withthat
numberfallingto
a littlemorethan
3 millionbythe
mid-1980sin the
faceofcompetition
fromimported
honeyandother
sweeteners.
With Bloomberg Opinion
●LIFECYCLE
U.S.beekeepers
reportedrevenueof
$309.6m
frompollination
servicesin 2019,and
$309.1millionfrom
honey,a bigchange
frompastdecades,
whenhoneywasthe
chiefmoneymaker.
● NUTS
Most pollination revenue—79% in 2017—comes
in February and March, when bee-dependent
almond trees bloom in California’s Central Valley.
● BAD NEWS
BUMBLE
A 2013 study found
that most native bee
species in the U.S.
had experienced
only modest
declines over the
previous 140 years,
but that bumblebee
populations had
declined steeply.
By Justin Fox
Don’t Call It a Honeybee
Comeback Yet
Bloomberg
Businessweek
(USPS
080
900)
August
31,
2020
(ISSN
0007-7135)
H
Issue
no.
4669
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● U.S. honeybee colonies
2008
1987 2020
3.6m
3.0
2.4