we love bees
Did you know that United States honey production in 2009 from producers with five or more colonies totaled 144 million pounds, down 12 percent from 2008? There were 2.46 million colonies producing honey in 2009, up 5 percent from 2008. Yield per colony averaged 58.5 pounds, down 16 percent from the 69.9 pounds in 2008. While in 2015 honey production from producers with five or more colonies totaled 157 million pounds, down 12 percent from 2014. There were 2.66 million colonies from which honey was harvested in 2015, down 3 percent from 2014. Yield of honey harvested per colony averaged 58.9 pounds, down 10 percent from the 65.1 pounds in 2014.
United States honey prices decreased during 2015 to 209.0 cents per pound, down 4 percent from a record high of 217.3 cents per pound in 2014. Like report is saying price failing is happening right now, but we should be optimistic. If we compare that data with 2009 it’s a fact that honey price is still better that it was back in 2009 when honey price was 144.5 cents per pound.
It seems like history repeats, our little friends, honey bees, are again in trouble, like they were in 2009. They are in fight with pesticide makers and Colony Collapse Disorder. A huge problem for beekeepers has been the high rate of hive deaths, but still the first reason for bees dying is varroa. There is a big problem because beekeepers are not only losing bees in the winter anymore, they are also losing them throughout the summer.
If you are interesting in more details about this report, you can find it at United States Department of Agriculture web site.
