Everyone is crying about Colony Collapse Disorder and how the honey bees are going the way of the Dodo Bird (eg. extinct)
Not so fast - some numbers from the United States Department of Agriculture; Economics, Statistics and Market Information System (link to PDF file - looking at data from 2014):
United States Honey Production Up 19 Percent
Honey production in 2014 from producers with five or more colonies totaled 178 million pounds, up 19 percent from 2013. There were 2.74 million colonies producing honey in 2014, up 4 percent from 2013. Yield per colony averaged 65.1 pounds, up 15 percent from the 56.6 pounds in 2013.
Colony Collapse Disorder started to be reported in 2006 - here is the report from 2010 (link to PDF file - looking at data from 2009):
United States Honey Production Down 12 Percent
Honey production in 2009 from producers with five or more colonies totaled 144 million pounds, down 12 percent from 2008. There were 2.46 million colonies producing honey in 2009, up 5 percent from 2008. Yield per colony averaged 58.5 pounds, down 16 percent from the 69.9 pounds in 2008, and is the lowest yield since 1989.
So yes, something did happen but it has been fixed and production is now greater than it ever was. End of story...
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