Honey bee colonies could face 70% losses in 2025, impacting agriculture
Honey bee colonies across the United States are facing record-breaking losses in 2025, with scientists warning the impact could be felt in agricultural production.
Washington State University entomologists announced this week that commercial honey bee colony losses are projected to reach between 60% and 70% in 2025.
Over the past decade, annual losses for colonies have typically ranged between 40% and 50%, marking a significant jump this year.
Priya Chakrabarti Basu, an assistant professor of pollinator health and apiculture at WSU told ABC News that honey bee losses could stem from nutrition deficiencies, mite infestations, viral diseases and possible pesticide exposure during the previous pollinating season.
"I honestly think this is a combination of multiple stressors, which is why for years my lab has been focusing on understanding the impacts of and interactions of these stressors on bee pollinators," Basu said, adding that America's commercial beekeepers are under pressure to maintain colonies.
"The pollination demands haven’t gone down, so beekeepers face tremendous pressure to keep the same number of colonies to meet those needs," Basu said.
Pollination is critical for food production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with the agency saying about 35% of the world's food crops depend on animal pollinators to produce.
Crops that depend on honey bees and other pollinators to grow include fruits and vegetables -- like apples, strawberries, cucumbers and avocados -- but also nuts, such as almonds and macadamia nuts, the USDA said. Other affected plants include coffee, cocoa and vanilla, according to the USDA.
"I don't want to be a fearmonger, but this level of national loss could mean increased bankruptcies amongst beekeepers," Brandon Hopkins, a professor of pollinator ecology at WSU, said in a press release accompanying the research.
Hopkins said the effects could be felt the strongest in California's almond production.
California almonds are the biggest crop for honey bee pollination, which happens in February and March, according to Hopkins.
"The almond industry frequently asks for strong colonies," Hopkins said in the release.
"But this year, growers are desperate," he added. "Anything with live bees in a box is in demand because the industry is short on supply. I haven’t heard of that since the early days of colony collapse around 2008.”
Honey bees had a production value of nearly $350 million in 2023, according to the USDA.
In order to combat such severe colony losses, WSU scientists are working on methods for widespread varroa mite control, awareness on commercial honey bee colony management practices and new research on bee nutrition in the hopes beekeepers will have better access to healthy food for their colonies, according to the release.
