Pursuits
Buzz Kill: U.S. Honeybees Aren't Coming Back This Year
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The mystery of why America’s honeybees are dropping like flies isn’t close to being solved. This past winter saw U.S. beekeepers lose another 23 percent of their colonies, according to an annual survey by the Bee Informed Partnership and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The fallout goes beyond honey and into America’s almond business, which is already struggling with drought. More than half of the commercial bees in the U.S. are needed to pollinate almonds, the country’s most lucrative nut. According to the Almond Board of California, more than 1 million colonies of honeybees are placed in the state at the beginning of the bloom period to pollinate the crop.