Since launching their beekeeping venture near San Antonio at the close of 2019, the Wheeler family has been focused on cultivating roughly 3,000 bee colonies annually. These colonies primarily serve to pollinate crops such as watermelons and pumpkins. However, bee colony collapses have surged over the last decade and a half. Each year, half of the Wheelers’ bees typically perish. Yet, this pattern intensified last year, which has taken a toll on their financial performance.
The predicament is so severe that the Wheelers are contemplating a shift away from their pollination services to concentrate more on honey production. Co-owner Ryan Wheeler, aged 36, believes this strategy might reinforce their bees’ health and vitality. Numerous farmers throughout the U.S. depend on beekeepers like the Wheelers to propagate bees for pollinating over a hundred varieties of fruits and vegetables.
“It’s puzzling because the increase in bee deaths was very notable this year,” Wheeler explained. “I’m hopeful that this is not an ominous trend, though the reports can be quite alarming.” The Wheeler family’s farm is among the many seeing bee population declines that experts find unprecedented. A new survey by Project Apis m. has identified that, since June, beekeepers in Texas have lost around two-thirds of their colonies on average. Nationally, beekeepers have reported losing about 62% of their bees without any clear cause.
The financial impact of these losses is staggering, amounting to $635 million across beekeeping communities. Experts caution that such collapses could disrupt the growth of fruits and vegetables, impacting both their quality and market availability for consumers. Certain crops, notably almonds, watermelons, and berries, depend heavily on bees for successful pollination.
Significant bee losses over a single season can jeopardize beekeepers’ ability to sustain and extend their operations into subsequent seasons, a situation described as having a “trickle-down effect” by Geoffrey Williams, an agriculture professor at Auburn University.
“This year seems especially dire, and it might lead to some beekeeping businesses shutting down for good,” Williams remarked. “We might witness the collapse of several companies unable to bear these setbacks.”
The ramifications are particularly severe for Texas, among the leading states in beekeeping. Beekeeping in Texas has flourished over previous years, following the enactment of a 2012 tax incentive for landowners with bee colonies. Nevertheless, recent colony losses are eroding the progress achieved. Notably affected is Texas’s capacity to supply bees for California’s almond pollination.
Beekeeping businesses in Texas rely significantly on dispatching bees for almond pollination in early calendar months. Enterprises like Frio Country Farms, operated by the Wheelers, experienced shortfalls this year. Tim Hollmann, who spearheads a forty-year-old beekeeping business, had to curtail his usual dispatch to California.
Operating Hollmann Apiaries since 1984, Hollmann has been steeped in beekeeping from his youth, using it to finance his university education. Though his beekeeping base is in South Dakota, half of his operations occur in Texas. Before transporting bees to California for almond pollination each February, his colonies are nurtured in Texas. Still, in recent times, his output has diminished disturbingly.
“We suffered huge setbacks last year, and this year, we have not managed to recover,” Hollmann lamented. Arriving in Texas with 6,750 bee colonies last fall, he only managed to send 1,800 to California, battling a loss of over 70% of his colonies.
The beekeeping industry relates current disruptions to a condition from the late 2000s known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Initially identified in 2006, CCD involves rapid loss of the majority of worker bees in a hive. Late-2000s data indicated annual colony losses averaging 30-50%, and figures have not improved significantly.
“For nearly two decades, we have warned of an inevitable breaking point,” noted Blake Shook, a Texas beekeeper who co-founded a company aiding the beekeeping industry. He added that the significant bee losses observed could increase prices for produce reliant on pollination. This would notably affect crops like apples, blueberries, and watermelons — important products within Texas.
The causes behind the escalating bee losses remain elusive, yet specialists have identified potential contributors. Texas A&M University bee expert Garett Slater lists five reasons colonies might collapse: parasites, specifically Varroa mites, harmful pathogens, exposure to pesticides, insufficient nutrition, and frail queen bees.
Varroa mites are particularly insidious, as these parasites spread contagions that bees struggle to resist. Currently, Texas A&M is collaborating with the USDA to breed mite-resistant bees. While today’s scientific knowledge and resources are more advanced compared to a decade and a half ago, the urgency to identify effective solutions is paramount.
Adding to the distress, Professor Juliana Rangel of Texas A&M espouses doubts that human error is responsible for the increased losses. The beekeepers she interacts with haven’t significantly modified their techniques recently, pointing toward an unfamiliar culprit.
Hollmann, a veteran beekeeper, also remains baffled by what drives these losses, though he suspects Varroa mites or inadequate queen support may play roles. His major concern, however, is the potential demographic gap in the beekeeping industry. Sustaining younger and talented individuals’ interest in maintaining this crucial agricultural enterprise seems increasingly challenging.
“I’m worried about the future of our industry,” Hollmann expressed. “Attracting a new generation to continue this will be key for the long-standing vitality of our food systems.”
