ATLANTA — American beekeepers are recovering after losing more than half of their honeybee colonies last year, as the United States relies more heavily on imported honey.
Recent data shows commercial beekeepers nationwide lost an estimated 1.6 million colonies, or about 62% of their honeybees.
Edward Morgan, president of the Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Association, said parasites, pesticides and environmental factors are contributing to the losses.
“This is very minute, so in the beginning, I didn’t see it so I assumed I didn’t have it. Come to find out, I had it but didn’t know it,” Morgan said, referring to mites.
Morgan said mites continue to be a major challenge for beekeepers.
“When I train people, I emphasize that you have to treat bees for mites or your bees will die,” Morgan said.
He also said the loss of wooded areas is affecting honeybee populations.
“We’re tearing them down for data centers, new homes, new developments, that’s not good for the environment and at some point there’s gonna be a give and take,” Morgan said.
Morgan said local beekeepers are seeing similar losses.
“Locally it’s just the same thing, people lose their hives to mites and for the first-time beekeeper, if they don’t take the role of mites seriously, most of the time they lose their bees,” Morgan said.
As domestic honey production declines, Morgan said the United States has had to rely more heavily on imported honey.
