Mr. Robert Nathan Gregory
MSU Extension Service
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Entering this spring, beekeepers will be tasked with rebounding from the worst winter in over a decade for winter bee mortality.
A nonprofit organization, called Project Apis m., surveyed more than 700 U.S. commercial beekeepers and found they lost 62% of their colonies between July 2024 and February of this year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, or NASS, estimated more than 2.5 million hives were managed by beekeepers in the U.S. in 2024. Of that, 29,000 colonies of bees in Mississippi produced honey last year, not including colonies owned by northern U.S. beekeepers who winter their bees in the state.
Photo Caption: Varroa mites -- the primary killers of honeybees -- have developed a resistance to an acaracide commonly used to control them, which has led to increased bee deaths. A survey of more than 700 U.S. commercial beekeepers found they lost 62% of their colonies between July 2024 and February of this year. (File photo/Adobe Stock)
