Beekeeping
Humans have been keeping bees for thousands of years. Over time, methods have evolved and even today beekeeping practices differ around the world. In the United States, it is important to understand that most beekeepers are backyard beekeepers, each having only a few colonies for personal use. Most colonies in the U.S. belong to a much smaller number of commercial beekeepers.
Types of Beekeepers and Distribution of Colonies
Categorizing the type of operation a beekeeper has is important. The economics of beekeeping, and associated management practices, differ between the groups. Having a few colonies at home is considered “backyard beekeeping” or “hobbyist” beekeeping. Having several colonies as a source of supplemental income is considered “sideline” beekeeping, or part-time beekeeping. And maintaining hundreds, or thousands of colonies as a primary source of income is called “commercial beekeeping.” There are specialized commercial beekeeper businesses such as “Queen Breeders” whose focus is on making excess queen bees to sell to other beekeepers, others are ‘honey producers’, or ‘pollinators’ who rent bees to pollinate crops.
The Business of Commercial Beekeeping has Changed Over Time
The chart below shows how beekeeping businesses have changed over time. For commercial beekeepers, there has been a shift over the last few decades towards pollination as a source of income. The single biggest driver has been the increasing demand for bees to pollinate almonds. Almond acreage has expanded greatly between 1988 to the present day. These pollination services are a consistent revenue stream for most commercial beekeepers.
Beekeeping Costs
Something all beekeepers have in common is the many costs to keep healthy bees. While a backyard beekeeper must consider the cost of bees, hives, equipment, feed, and mite treatments, a commercial beekeeper has the added cost of scaling up labor, equipment, treatments, and transportation if they are migratory.
The charts below show two sets of data relating to beekeeping costs - one from the USDA-NASS Honey Report, and one from a special report from the University of California Issues Center
Economics in Beekeeping
Economics is also driving some new practices in beekeeping. For example, some commercial beekeepers have adopted the practice of cold storage for their bees in the winter. This allows them to keep the bees at a controlled climate, which has multiple benefits.
All beekeepers face similar challenges. from the Varroa mite, bee diseases, lack of habitat, and the use of pesticides in agriculture have all complicated beekeeping practices. To learn more about these issues, visit the Honey Bee Health Dashboard.
There are many resources available to beekeepers learn what’s working best, referred to as best management practices (BMP’s) these guidelines are informed by other beekeepers, and much of the research found in our database.
The Honey Bee Health Coalition offers comprehensive BMP’s on their webpage, including a detailed guide and ‘how-to’ videos for managing Varroa.
Most states also have beekeeping associations that are available to help mentor new beekeepers.
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