Colony Collapse Was Never a Real Concern For Bees

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is the name given to the sudden abandonment of a bee hive by its worker bees, leaving the queen by herself and the colony to die-off. It’s a mysterious condition, sometimes called the “disappearing disease” whose cause is still not well known.

At times it has been attributed to infestations of mites, excessive use of pesticides, electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones, or a combination of various causes and stressors that informally earned it the moniker of “bee AIDS.”

While CCD was originally observed in the 19th century in the U.K., where it was originally called the Isle of Wight disease, it wasn’t until 2006 when it became a significant concern in the U.S. with reports of large-scale bee die-offs followed by worries that not only would the epidemic decimate honey production, it could impact pollination of crops nationwide and decimate agriculture.

To prevent such a disaster, the 2014 Farm Bill subsidized the honey industry through nonrecourse marketing assistance loans (MALs) and loan deficiency payments (LDPs).

While the neocontonoid class of pesticides were commonly targeted as the cause of CCD, leading to various class action lawsuits, makers of such pesticides were given protection under what was called the Farmer Assurance Provision in a 2013 bill, US H.R. 933, informally referred to as the “Monsanto Protection Act.”

But there was never a real sign that CCD was significantly affecting honey production or bee populations in the U.S. If it affected honey production, it was minor compared to the sharp downturn in production from economic causes that started years earlier.

While the year that CCD had its first major impact—2006—did see declines in honey production, U.S. honey production had been in sharp decline for over a decade at that point according to data from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). From 1987 to 2005, the U.S. would produce 60.8 million fewer pounds of honey a year—a 26 percent decline. Honey-producing bee colonies declined by 38 percent.

But once CCD was recognized as a potential concern in 2006, the total number of honey bee colonies started increasing—seven percent since 2005—not enough to offset decades of decline but not a sign of a nationwide colony collapse.

For a short time between 2015 and 2017 the USDA tracked losses due to CCD, identifying between 5,000 to 7,000 colony losses a year—on average .2 percent of total honey-producing colonies those years—but overall the net total of colonies increased. Bee colonies often die out, sometimes over winter months, and they get replaced by newer colonies. One colony dies and another one takes its place.

Economic Incentives

While CCD might be a concern for any honey farmer, there are other financial factors that affect honey production like federal subsidies and prices.

The U.S. has long subsidized its honey production through the USDA Honey Program going back to the 1950s, which kept honey prices low and encouraged domestic production. But subsidies were eventually fazed out in the late 1980s and early 1990s leading to the 1990s crash in production.

In the mid-1990s, Congress and the Administration were trying to reduce the budget deficit, and farm programs were one target for spending cuts. The USDA appropriation acts for FY1994 (P.L. 103-111) and FY1995 (P.L. 103-330) provided no funding for the honey support program. Then, the 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127, Section 171) repealed altogether the honey price support authority.

Encouraged by high loan forfeitures, and by a report from the General Accounting Office stating that the honey price support program was not needed to ensure crop pollination, the 1985 farm bill (P.L. 99- 198, Section 1041) reduced the level of support and dropped the escalation formula.

Without subsidies, honey prices rose significantly beginning in the 1990s and more so in the 2000s. The high prices compensated for any decline in volume of production. Despite less honey being produced by weight, total U.S. honey production by value would double by 2015, even when adjusted for inflation.

High Prices Lead To Imports

The high price of honey in the U.S. would encourage a wave of cheap imports from Vietnam, India, and South America, with total value of imports quadrupling over that same period from 2005 to 2015.

Once subsidies were in place through the 2014 Farm Bill, prices leveled off along with import totals, although domestic producers would eventually file an anti-dumping accusation against importers with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in 2021.