An Alarming Rate of Declining Bees

Mary Gilmore, Staff Writer

The U.S. beekeeping industry is facing a crisis with the devastating loss of millions of bees over the past year. Recent reports from the nonprofit Project Apis m. indicates that beekeepers lost an average of 62% of their colonies between 2024 and 2025, which is approximately 1.1 million colonies nationwide.

Most of these dying bees include commercial honey bees, which account for the honey sold in grocery stores. Moreover, as reported by NPR, commercial honey bees pollinate more than a hundred U.S. crops for a total of $18 billion in agricultural revenue.

Scientists have begun their research as to why this unusual crisis is happening. While many questions still remain unsolved, several hypotheses have been circulated to explain this decline. According to the USDA, an addition of multiple factors may be the cause. Those factors include, “parasites and pests, pathogens, poor nutrition, and sublethal exposure to pesticides.”

Another major hypothesis is the effects from climate change. Climate change alters the timing of flower blooming, which disrupts the honey bees’ food supply. Additionally, climate change has caused extreme weather patterns to occur which can destroy the honey bee’s natural habitat.

While the catastrophic loss of bees seems to be far from over, not all hope is lost. Behind the scenes, beekeepers and environmentalists have been working to save the bees. Integrated pest management has been used to safely keep the bees alive, monitoring them for parasites and disease. Genetic modification has also occurred to create strains of bees that are resistant to diseases. And farmers have switched to using pesticides that are safe for pollinators, promoting growth among the population.

Saving the bee population has been in the form of protest since the early 2000s. People protested about saving the bees when neonicotinoids were introduced as a form of pesticide. These pesticides can keep bugs and animals away from crops, but they can also kill pollinators which endangers the agricultural industry. This movement has stayed strong throughout recent years, especially since the country still allows neonicotinoid use in several states.

It’s also been reported people have been planting flora, which attract and promote honey bee growth. If you’re interested in purchasing these flowers, check out Epic Gardening for a list of flowers that are the most beneficial to honey bees.

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