Beekeeping in the United States is a relatively small industry, generating a revenue of $334 million in 2014, according to research firm IBIS World. However, the state of this small industry ultimately affects the most important industry in the world: food.
This is why, when the U.S. bee industry suffers problems, we all have to be concerned. Nearly every type of food grown on land relies on bees, and farmers and apiarists are doing the best they can to handle a growing problem called colony collapse disorder. It's when worker bees from a colony of honey bees abruptly disappear.
Steve Murray, owner of Murray Family Farms in Bakersfield, California, chalks up the sudden disappearance of honey bees to two things. Murray, who used to pay $25 to keep a single hive 35 years ago when he first started beekeeping, now pays $175 to maintain the same hive due to the onset of new diseases that previously did not affect honey bees.
"Two varieties of mites are getting into the bees' bloodstream and lungs," Murray told Fox11. "So you've got bees now that are asthmatic and anemic, coupled with mites."
He also said bees contract a total of 21 viruses, and just like the common cold that spreads from one person to another, these viruses also spread out within a colony, effectively wiping out huge swaths of the hive's population.
Diseases are not the only problem beekeepers have to contend with. In Maryland, a group of apiarists calling themselves Beeks are urging the state Congress to pass the Pollinator Protection Act, which would limit the sale of Neonics, a pesticide that stays in plant tissues and is harmful to bees.
If approved, the bill would take the pesticide off the shelves of neighborhood stores and restrict its sale to certified applicators, such as farmers and veterinarians. It would also require pesticide manufacturers to add a warning label to all products containing Neonics to inform buyers that the pesticide is known to be one of the major causes of bee deaths. The Beeks say almost half of Maryland's hives in 2012 were lost due to Neonics.
"At this alarming rate of honey bee losses, our food supply will simply not be sustainable," said Roger Williams, beekeeper and president of the Central Maryland Beekeepers Association. "By taking responsible steps, such as the Pollinator Protection Act, we can protect our bees and food supply and our beekeepers from extinction."
Crown Bees, a Seattle, Washington-based supplier of bees, says the bee industry can help alleviate its growing problem of collapsing honey bee colonies by shifting some of its focus on solitary bees, such as the native mason bee and leafcutter bee. Dave Hunter, founder of Crown Bees, is hoping to crowdfund a community of new beekeepers that will raise solitary bees whose single purpose is to pollinate flowers, fruits, and vegetables.
Hunter says solitary bees are easy to raise by putting up a bee box. They also have the advantage of being kid-friendly because, unlike honey bees, most solitary bees rarely sting.
"Everyone needs to help by either supporting the campaign or by raising native bees to pollinate crops," said Hunter. "In turn, this lightens the workload of troubled honey bees and helps keep food on your table."
The Crown Bees crowdfunding campaign is launched on Indiegogo and aims to raise $300,000 to establish a physical and online community of beekeepers. Backers, called Bee Boosters, will receive anywhere from a bee sticker and an e-book about bees, to different sizes of beekeeping packages (depending on the amount donated), to a tour of Oregon's Hood River Valley, to a bee-themed party for 20 friends at the backer's house.
