Economic Effects and Responses to Changes in Honey Bee Health

Since 2006, winter losses of managed honey bee colonies in the United States have averaged 28.7 percent, approximately double the 15.0-percent historical rate. These elevated losses have raised concerns that agricultural and food supply chains will suffer disruptions as pollination services become more costly and less available. Despite higher winter loss rates, U.S. honey bee colony numbers have remained stable or risen since 1996, with loss rates showing no correlation with yearly changes in the number of U.S. colonies but being positively correlated with the rate of colony additions. Among pollinated crops, almonds and plums have had the largest increases in pollination service fees, rising about 2.5 and 2.4 times, respectively, in real (inflation-adjusted) terms since the early 1990s, with the largest portion of the increase occurring between 2004 and 2006. For other pollinated crops, real fees have risen at an average rate of 2-3 percent annually and do not show a marked increase since Colony Collapse Disorder appeared in 2006. For most crops other than almonds, the share of farmgate costs attributable to pollination service fees is less than 5 percent at the farm level and less than 1 percent at the retail level.