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The Decline of the Bee

"How did you go bankrupt?""Two ways. Gradually, and suddenly"
Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

Hemingway said it best with the above quote on going bankrupt, gradually then suddenly. While he might have been talking about money, the same can be said for the honeybee.

The honeybee was a telltale sign that summer had arrived. We wouldn't walk in the grass without shoes unless we were willing to run the risk of a sting from one of these bees. Then, slowly bit by bit, the stings got fewer and the honeybees bouncing from white clover head to white clover head declined.

Maybe you noticed it and maybe you didn't. Just as the main character's wealth in The Sun Always Rises, the decline of the honeybee has gradual and not really noticable unless you were paying attention. Now we are at the "all of a sudden" point with the honey bee. How did we get to this point? What might happen if the current trend continues?

The fall of the honeybee: Why Their Decline Matters

As most people know, honeybees are vital pollinators in our ecosystems and food supply, this fact is undeniable. Honeybees can provide effective pollination for many of the foods we eat. In the United States, managed honeybee colonies pollinate more than 130 types of fruits, nuts, and vegetables – a service valued at roughly $15 billion annually In fact, bees (including wild species) help pollinate about 80% of all flowering plants, making them a keystone species for biodiversity. This means the health of honeybee populations doesn’t just affect honey production; it underpins crop yields, wild plant regeneration, and the diets of countless other species. Unfortunately, American honeybees have been in decline, as the above graph demonstrates. This has led beekeepers and scientists to sounding the alarm over significant losses in recent decades.

SO, HOW BAD IS IT?

Honeybee populations in the U.S. have experienced a substantial decline over the past several decades. In the mid-20th century, American beekeepers maintained around 5 million managed hives, but going into the winter of 2024, that number was roughly half as many According to USDA data, the total count of managed honeybee colonies fell from about 5 million in the 1940s to approximately 2.4 million going into the winter of 2024. This gradual slide to below half of the 1950's number took a sudden turn when non-profit group Project Apis m. released the results of their report showing that over 45-60% of the colonies that went into the winter of 2024 did not survive. This was a catastrophic blow to the commercial beekeeping industry.

Beekeepers have worked hard to replace lost colonies by splitting hives and introducing new queens, largely to meet agricultural pollination demand. For example, the average number of U.S. honeybee colonies in 2010–2020 was about 2.7 million, up nearly 8% from the previous decade. However, this apparent stability is misleading – it masks an ongoing cycle of high colony turnover. Each year, beekeepers must replace an unusually high proportion of their colonies just to maintain those numbers, but remain well below mid-20th-century levels. Bee Informed Partnership has released results from their annual survey, which highlights the continuing cycle of high honey bee colony turnover, with beekeepers and researchers hoping to find solutions.

Since the mid-2000s, beekeepers have reported annual colony losses far above historical norms. Traditionally, an overwinter loss of around 10–15% might have been expected, but today losses are several times higher. In the winter of 2006/2007, a mysterious phenomenon dubbed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) gained notoriety, with some beekeepers suddenly losing 30–90% of their hives. CCD – where worker bees vanish from the hive – has since subsided as a specific syndrome, but high losses continue to plague beekeepers each year. Over the last decade, U.S. beekeepers have experienced an average annual colony loss of roughly 40%, a level described by experts as unsustainable. In some recent years the losses have been even more alarming: for instance, nearly 45.5% of colonies were lost between spring 2020 and spring 2021, and about 48.2% were lost in 2022–2023, the second-highest loss rate on record. All of which played into the possible knockout blow of 2024-2025, where record high losses shook the beekeeping world when between 45-60% of colonies did not survive the winter.

It’s only through constant intervention that the U.S. hasn’t seen an even steeper net decline in honeybees. Between 2015 and 2022, an estimated 11.4 million colonies died and nearly 11.1 million were added as replacements. In other words, beekeepers are racing on a “treadmill” – every year, they must rebuild a huge portion of their apiaries to make up for losses. This level of turnover is unprecedented. As Dr. Nathalie Steinhauer of the Bee Informed Partnership explains, “loss rates are not the same as population decline” – total colony counts have remained relatively stable only because beekeepers work tirelessly to create new colonies to offset the die-offs. Such heavy losses, year after year, indicate that honeybee populations are under serious stress and that underlying problems persist even if outright collapse has so far been averted.

Main Causes of Honeybee Decline

Scientists attribute the decline of honeybees to multiple interacting factors rather than a single cause. The consensus is that a perfect storm of pests, pathogens, chemicals, and environmental stresses is undermining bee health. The beekeeping community agrees on one thing, that they can't agree to what is causing this decline. Below are some possibilities, but you must keep in mind that more than likely it is multiple factors adding together.

Parasites and Diseases

The Varroa destructor mite is often cited as the number one threat to honeybees. They were introduced to the U.S. in the late 1980s and have since become ubiquitous. Varroa infestations can decimate colonies if left uncontrolled, and they have been a major driver of colony losses in recent decades. As of right now the most effective treatment for varroa is the use of treatments, but there is growing evidence that the size of the honeycomb in completely natural bee colonies might play a role in varroa control. (See: "The Solution")

Pesticide Exposure

The use of certain pesticides – especially a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids – has been strongly implicated in honeybee decline. Neonicotinoids are widely used on crops and are systemic pesticides, meaning they permeate the plant tissues (including pollen and nectar). Even low, “sub-lethal” exposures to neonics can harm bees: studies show they can impair bees’ navigation, learning, and memory, reduce their foraging ability, and weaken their immune systems. For example, neonic exposure has been shown to disrupt honeybee homing ability, causing foragers to become disoriented and fail to return to the hive. Over time, this can lead to dwindling colony populations. Field studies and beekeepers’ observations link pesticide exposure to poor colony health and queen failures. In essence, when bees forage on flowering crops treated with bee-toxic chemicals, they can carry those poisons back to the hive. The result can be acute die-offs or more subtle chronic effects that make the colony less likely to survive other challenges.

Habitat Loss and Poor Nutrition

As human development and industrial agriculture expand, bees have lost a lot of the diverse forage they once relied on. Natural bee habitat – wildflower meadows, prairies, hedgerows – has been reduced, leaving fewer flowering plants for bees to feed on. In many agricultural areas, monoculture crops (like corn or soy) dominate the landscape, providing little to no food for pollinators. Even when bees are placed near crops for pollination, there may be a dearth of nectar and pollen once those crops finish blooming. This leads to periods of starvation or reliance on beekeeper-provided food (sugar syrup or pollen substitutes). The lack of diverse, nutrition-rich pollen is a serious issue: bees on a poor diet have weaker immune systems and shorter lifespans. Researchers note that malnutrition makes bees more susceptible to diseases and pesticides, creating a vicious cycle. Habitat loss isn’t just rural – urbanization has also reduced forage. Furthermore, flowerless landscapes and manicured lawns mean bees struggle to find the nutrition they need. In short, bees are going hungry in many parts of the country, and this nutritional stress can translate into lower colony survival and productivity. Restoring bee-friendly habitat is widely seen as key to improving honeybee health.

Climate Change and Weather Extremes

Changing climate patterns are emerging as another stress factor for pollinators. Warmer winters, early springs, and extreme weather events can all negatively impact honeybees. For instance, unusually warm winter spells can cause bees to break from their normal winter cluster and become active too early, only to be hit by a cold snap. Erratic spring weather can disrupt the timing of flower blooms relative to bee activity, leading to mismatches where colonies peak at the wrong time. Beekeepers also report that extreme events like droughts, heat waves, floods, and wildfires are harming colonies. Wildfires can destroy vast areas of forage, and drought can limit the flowering of plants, leaving bees with little to eat. On the flip side, excessive rain or flooding can wipe out flowering plants or keep bees stuck in their hives unable to forage. Simply put, a less predictable climate adds yet another layer of pressure on bee survival.

Other Stressors: Honeybees face several additional challenges that, while not always headline-grabbing, contribute to their decline. One is the issue of genetic diversity and breeding – decades of breeding bees for specific traits (like honey production or gentleness) and the practice of queen rearing from a limited stock may have narrowed the gene pool, potentially making bees less resilient. Another factor is modern beekeeping practices and commercial stresses: to meet pollination needs, many commercial beekeepers transport their hives thousands of miles each year. This constant trucking and congregation of bees from across the country can spread diseases and stress colonies due to travel and confinement.

Additionally, some researchers point to interactions among all these factors – for example, a colony might cope with a moderate Varroa infestation under normal conditions, but if that colony is also exposed to pesticides and poor nutrition, the combined stress can push it over the edge. In essence, honeybee decline is a multi-factor problem, and even factors not listed above can play a localized role. All these stressors are not mutually exclusive – they often hit the bees simultaneously, amplifying the overall impact.

Ecological Consequences of Honeybee Loss

The decline of honeybees has serious ecological consequences, given their role in pollinating wild plants. Honeybees have become important pollinators in many natural and semi-natural ecosystems, complementing native pollinators. Around four-fifths of flowering plant species rely on insects like bees for reproduction. When pollinators are scarce, those plants may produce fewer seeds and fruits, leading to cascading effects through the food web. For example, fewer berries or wild fruits means less food for birds and other wildlife. Diminished seed production can reduce the regeneration of plants in forests and meadows, ultimately impacting plant biodiversity and habitat quality for other organisms.

It’s not just honeybees at risk either – many wild bee species (bumblebees, mason bees, etc.) are also declining, due to similar pressures like habitat loss and pesticides. In some cases, managed honeybees can buffer the loss of wild pollinators by continuing to pollinate plants, but if honeybees themselves are in decline, this buffer frays. A reduction in overall pollinator abundance can lead to certain plants becoming rare or even locally extinct, particularly those that depend heavily on insect pollination. Ecologists estimate that pollinators contribute on the order of $200 billion in “ecosystem services” globally when you include not just crop pollination but also their role in supporting healthy ecosystems. In the U.S., the ecological service of pollination includes things like providing food for wild animals, maintaining genetic diversity of plants, and even supporting soil health and water quality.

If honeybee declines continue, we could see simpler, less resilient ecosystems. Fewer pollinators may favor wind-pollinated or self-pollinating plant species over those that rely on insects, potentially altering plant community composition. There is also concern that stressors affecting honeybees (such as pesticides) often affect other insects, so their decline is a bellwether for broader insect biodiversity loss. In summary, thriving pollinator populations – honeybees included – are key to rich biodiversity. The loss of honeybees on the scale we are witnessing threatens to disrupt ecological relationships that have been in place for millennia, underscoring that this is not only an agricultural or economic problem, but an environmental one.

Agricultural Implications: Pollination and Food Production

American agriculture is deeply intertwined with honeybee health. One out of every three bites of food we eat can be linked to pollination by bees or other pollinators, according to commonly cited estimates. Many of the most nutritious and popular crops – from almonds and apples to blueberries, cherries, cucumbers, and pumpkins – depend on insect pollination to form their fruits. In the United States, crops that rely on pollinators have a production value of over $50 billion per year. Honeybees, being managed and deployable, are responsible for a large share of that pollination service. For example, California’s almond industry (the world’s largest almond producer) is 100% dependent on bee pollination – every spring, about 70% of all commercial honeybee colonies in the U.S. (around 2 million hives) are transported to California just to pollinate almond orchards Each acre of almonds requires two strong hives, and with over a million acres of almonds, the demand for pollination is enormous

When honeybee colonies are in decline or experiencing high losses, agricultural productivity is at risk. Farmers may find it more expensive or difficult to secure the number of bee colonies needed to pollinate their fields. Pollination fees have been rising and can reach $200 or more per colony for almonds, reflecting the high demand and the costs of maintaining healthy bees. If bee supplies drop, farmers of bee-dependent crops could face lower yields. There is already evidence that insufficient pollination is limiting U.S. crop yields for certain fruits. A 2020 Rutgers-led study found that apple, cherry, and blueberry yields across multiple states were being reduced by a lack of pollinators – production would have been higher if more bee visits occurred. Notably, the researchers found that honeybees and wild bees together were not always meeting the pollination needs of these crops, indicating a pollinator shortfall. As honeybee troubles continue, such shortfalls could become more widespread, affecting other crops like squash, melons, avocados, sunflowers, and many more.

Beyond yield quantity, crop quality can suffer without adequate pollination. For instance, well-pollinated strawberries are often larger and better formed; cucumbers and melons pollinated by many bee visits tend to have a more uniform shape. Poor pollination can lead to smaller fruits or fruits that are misshapen, which may be less marketable. In extreme cases, crop failure can occur (e.g. an orchard might not set fruit at all if pollinators are absent during bloom). Economically, if honeybee decline leads to chronic pollination deficits, consumers could see higher prices or reduced availability for certain foods. In summary, the agricultural stakes are high – healthy honeybees are critical for sustaining crop yields and variety in our diet, and their decline poses a direct threat to U.S. food security and farm economies.

Impact on Beekeeping Industry and Economy

The decline of honeybees has profoundly affected the beekeeping industry in America. Beekeeping, whether practiced by large commercial operations or small backyard enthusiasts, has become more challenging and costly. High colony losses (often 30–50% annually) impose a heavy financial and labor burden on beekeepers. Each dead colony represents lost investment – the bees themselves, the honey they might have produced, and any future income from pollination contracts. Beekeepers must replace those losses, either by splitting surviving colonies to make new ones, buying new queens and packaged bees, or investing in bee breeding. All of these mitigation efforts are expensive and time-consuming. One nationwide survey estimated that replacing dead colonies cost U.S. beekeepers around $250 million in a single year, when accounting for the expense of new bees and lost income from pollination. In early 2025, commercial beekeepers reported unprecedented winter losses, with an analysis suggesting the economic toll could top $600 million when factoring in lost crop pollination opportunities. These kinds of losses, if sustained, threaten the economic viability of commercial beekeeping.

Beekeepers have responded by changing how they operate. Many now prioritize revenue from pollination services alongside (or above) honey production, since pollination fees have become a major source of income. In fact, the USDA notes that U.S. beekeepers today receive roughly as much income from renting out hives to pollinate crops as from selling honey. This shift helps beekeepers stay afloat, but it also means bees are being moved around more intensively (which, as noted, can add stress and disease spread). The need for constant losses replacement has led to a seasonal pattern where beekeepers perform large-scale “make splits” in spring, dividing healthy hives to create new colonies to replace winter losses. They also often import queens or starter colonies from breeding operations (domestic or sometimes imported from abroad) to rebuild numbers. All of this is part of a new normal of high turnover beekeeping.

The cost of managing bee health has risen as well. Beekeepers must invest in mite control treatments multiple times a year (and rotate chemicals to combat Varroa’s resistance), provide supplemental feeding during dearth periods to ensure colonies don’t starve, and even provide insulated wraps or controlled environments to improve winter survival. These interventions add labor and expense. Some smaller-scale beekeepers have found these demands too onerous, leading them to quit or reduce their hive counts, while larger operations have scaled up number of hives (to have a buffer against losses) despite the risks. Essentially, beekeeping has become a more high-input enterprise than it was a few decades ago.

From an economic standpoint, the honeybee decline also forces considerations of supply and demand in pollination markets. If many colonies are lost, pollination contracts for crops like almonds, berries, or vegetables become harder to fulfill, potentially driving up prices. Growers might have to pay more, and that cost can ripple through to consumers. The USDA Farm Bill and other programs have started to provide some aid (for example, reimbursement for losses due to disasters or funding for research into bee health), but beekeepers often report that such programs cover only a fraction of their losses. In short, the beekeeping industry is under significant financial pressure, adapting as best as it can through innovation and sheer hard work. Geoffrey Williams, an Auburn University entomologist, noted that beekeepers “consistently lose a high number of colonies each year, which puts a heavy burden on many of them to recoup those losses in time for major pollination events like California almonds”. This statement highlights how the biological challenges translate into economic and logistical challenges for beekeepers.

It’s worth noting that despite these hardships, U.S. beekeepers have shown resilience. They have so far managed to keep total colony numbers relatively stable by extraordinary effort, ensuring that pollination demands are met each year. But this should not lead to complacency; it is akin to bailing water out of a leaky boat. As one industry representative warned, if current loss rates continue or worsen, “we simply won’t be able to sustain current food production” because the losses are “completely unsustainable”. The economic model of beekeeping will break down if beekeepers can no longer effectively replace dead colonies or if costs outweigh income.

Conclusion

The decline of American honeybees is a complex problem with no single villain – it is the result of multiple stress factors converging on bee populations. Over recent decades, U.S. honeybees have been hit hard by parasites like Varroa mites, widespread use of bee-toxic pesticides, the loss of flowering habitats, and the unpredictability of a changing climate. The outcome has been high colony mortality and a heavy dependency on human management to keep bee numbers afloat. This matters not only to beekeepers and honey lovers, but to all of us. A world with fewer bees means a world with fewer flowers and less variety on our plates. The ecological fabric – from wildflower diversity to healthy crops – is weakened by each missing hive.

The situation, while dire, also highlights how interdependent our systems are: agriculture relies on beekeepers; beekeepers rely on a healthy environment for their bees. Recognizing “the problem” is the first step toward solutions. Efforts are underway (by researchers, farmers, policymakers, and beekeepers) to address these challenges – from developing mite-resistant bee stocks and better pest management, to encouraging pollinator-friendly farming and gardening practices, and re-evaluating pesticide impacts. Ensuring the future of honeybees will require supporting those on the front lines (the beekeepers) and tackling the root causes of decline. The urgency is clear: if we want to protect our food supply, our environment, and the pollinators that tie them together, we must confront the decline of honeybees head-on. The plight of the honeybee is ultimately a human problem too, and solving it will yield benefits for the entire web of life.

Sources: Recent data and reports have been used in compiling this overview, including USDA agencies, the Bee Informed Partnership survey results, academic studies, and summaries from organizations studying pollinator health. Key references are cited inline, highlighting statistics and findings on U.S. honeybee colony numbers, loss rates, causes of decline, and impacts on agriculture and ecosystems. The consensus across these sources is that the decline of American honeybees is real and concerning – but with informed action, it is a problem we can work to mitigate for the sake of our environment and food future.

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