Commercial beekeepers have sustained an average loss of 62 percent of their hives between June of 2024 and March of 2025, according to data released in April by the American Beekeeping Federation.

The federation said survey responses and field analyses reinforce concerns about the long-term viability of pollination services critical to U.S. agriculture, and that without immediate intervention, ripple effects could drive up costs for farmers, disrupt food production and shut down many beekeeping operations.

“Beekeeping businesses are facing unprecedented challenges that threaten their survival from colony losses we haven’t seen in nearly 20 years. The swift response from stakeholders and the USDA is critical in providing beekeepers with the data and information to make well-informed decisions to sustain their operations,” said Patty Sundberg, president of the American Beekeeping Federation.

This loss of bee colonies is now the largest loss ever recorded. U.S. beekeepers across the country began reporting unexpected large-scale honey bee losses as recently as January of 2025.

-Photo courtesy of the Honey Bee Health Coalition
Iowa lays claim to some 4,000 beekeeping operations, from full-scale commercial operations down to hobbyists.

Data collected from beekeepers representing 72 percent of the nation’s bees found that hobbyist beekeepers have lost 51 percent of their colonies; sideliner operations have lost an average of 54 percent of their colonies, and commercial beekeepers have lost an average of 62 percent of their colonies, which analysts said is a reversal of typical trends, where commercial beekeepers generally experience lower losses due to their scale, resources and skilled management practices.

Stats go on to further show that, with the 1.6 million colonies lost nationwide, the economic impact of that comes to more than $600 million in lost honey production, pollination income and costs to replace colonies.

The USDA’s Ag Research Service (USDA-ARS) is collecting samples from failing and surviving colonies, and data is not yet readily available.

Nationwide, the USDA-ARS is conducting a four-tiered investigation to determine possible causes, including pathogen screening; pesticide residues and pollen diversity — examining stored pollen for pesticide contamination and plant diversity; metagenomic analysis — identifying previously unknown pathogens in colonies with high disease prevalence; and microbiome and host-pathogen interactions — assessing gut bacterial diversity and potential links to colony health.

USDA-ARS states possible causes to be the varroa mite, environmental factors, management factors (including queen replacement, supplemental nutrition and winter management), and chemical exposures in agriculture.

-Photo courtesy of the Honey Bee Health Coalition
With the 1.6 million colonies lost nationwide, the economic impact comes to more than $600 million in lost honey production, pollination income and costs to replace colonies.

“The scale of these losses is completely unsustainable,” said Zac Browning, fourth-generation commercial beekeeper and board chairman of Project Apis m. “Honey bees are the backbone of our food system, pollinating the crops that feed our nation. If we continue to see losses at this rate, we simply won’t be able to sustain current food production.”

Iowa bees

Iowa lays claim to some 4,000 beekeeping operations, from full-scale commercial operations down to hobbyists.

This unprecedented colony loss would necessitate beekeepers to replace them at a cost of around $150 to $250 per hive, with many Iowa beekeepers operating several dozen hives at a time. The cost of the hardware ($200) would be in addition to that.

Beekeepers also pay sales tax on their bees, which beekeeping officials say no other livestock producer pays. They are working with the state of Iowa to try to eliminate that tax in order to promote Iowa beekeepers supplying Iowa bees. Not all states charge sales tax on their bees.

Chris Puetz, (Bernard, Iowa-based) president of the Iowa Honey Producers Association, said this problem of colony loss was not expected, and is one that cannot be ignored, especially in Iowa — with its rich history of agricultural production.

“A lot of times we think of agriculture as large fields of corn, which is self-pollinating. But the bigger thing is we look at soybeans and all the other types of crops produced in Iowa, and bees play a critical role in that,” he said. “We need the bees to help increase crop production.”

Puetz said having honey bees close to soybean fields significantly increases yields. He also said bees are necessary to help feed the livestock that feed the people as well, with pastures needing bees to pollinate the clover and other wildflowers that grow in pastures. Most plants, he said, require pollination.

“Iowa has a large number of apple orchards. There are pollination services that go out to these orchards, and then with these big losses in combination with the almond (groves) out in California, the time isn’t there now to rebuild some of these lost bee populations for that now because of the timing.”

Puetz said Iowa beekeepers typically get 50 to 75 percent of their bees through the winter if they’re in Iowa the entire time, due to the harsh Iowa temperature swings. This year’s losses in Iowa were at 75 percent and higher, Puetz said.

Puetz said each Iowa hive contains 40,000 to 60,000 bees during the summer, depending on how large the hive grows. He said each bee might travel two or three miles to find food.

“Their only intent is to find flowers for nectar and bring it back to the hive to ensure it’s successful,” said Puetz, adding that bees live between 30 and 45 days.

He said the varroa mite that investigators think is destroying bee colonies could be compared to “a wood tick the size of a dinner plate.”

“They keep biting and feeding off of bees just like a wood tick would feed off of us, but then they spread disease,” said Puetz, adding that pesticide use also comes into play.

“That’s a tricky thing because we know that in agriculture you have to use pesticides to keep your crop healthy. You can’t say ‘Save the bees,’ then expect farmers to watch their crops get blights. But is there better management structures that might need to be addressed? Possibly,” he said.

He added that finding a single cause for this catastrophic colony loss issue may not happen. He said beekeepers need to find ways to manage hives differently and build relationships with people around them to help educate them and work together to protect the bee populations everywhere.

What can anyone do?

Puetz encourages consumers to purchase only local honey to help local beekeepers stay afloat in these times of overwhelming colony losses. And for the bees themselves, he said one thing anyone can do to help keep bees alive to continue pollinating the nation’s food is to not spray yards for dandelions and other wild flowers that might be present.

He said pollinator fields have been established in fields all around the state, but they only help those bees that live nearby, since a bee will only travel two to three miles for food, and cannot go any further due to their small size.

Puetz said the question needs to be asked about why counties are mowing road ditches, when pollinator plants could be placed there to help the overall ecosystem and protect bees.

He said the economic impact for beekeepers in terms of their return to the state is more than $5 million.

“Bees are crazy intelligent, and the work a bee does on all levels of Iowa food production is actually pretty impressive,” said Puetz. “The smallest bee can have one of the biggest impacts on agriculture and the world. The science behind beekeeping is amazing.”