Since starting their beekeeping business southwest of San Antonio in late 2019, the Wheeler family has aimed to produce about 3,000 bee colonies each year, many of which are used to pollinate crops like watermelons and pumpkins.

In the last 15 years, bee colony collapses have become more common. It’s typical for the Wheelers’ Frio Country Farms to lose about half of their bees each year. But last year, that trend worsened and the growing number of dead bees is hurting their financial bottom line.

The losses have gotten so bad that the Wheelers are considering pivoting away from pollination services toward honey production, said co-owner Ryan Wheeler, 36, in the hopes that it will help the bees stay “healthy and strong.” Farmers throughout the country rely on beekeepers like the Wheelers to grow bees to pollinate more than 100 types of fruits and vegetables.

“I just don’t really know why, but (the number of bee deaths) was definitely elevated this year,” Wheeler said. “I’m hoping that it’s nothing terrible, but it sounds scary when you hear all of the reports.”

The Wheeler family’s operation is one of the thousands experiencing what experts are calling some of the heaviest bee losses in recent memory. Since June, commercial beekeepers in Texas have lost about two thirds of their bee colonies on average, according to a survey published last month that was administered by Project Apis m., a honey bee research nonprofit. Commercial beekeepers across the nation lost about 62 percent of their bees — with no apparent reason — in the same period, the survey also said.

The financial losses to beekeepers nationwide go up to $635 million, the survey added. Experts worry the colony collapses are unsustainable and will have a chain effect on fruit and vegetable growth that will impact consumers. They say having fewer bees to pollinate this year can lessen the quality and quantity of foods that rely on pollination like watermelon, berries and, especially, almonds.

Heavy bee losses in one season can also impact the beekeepers’ ability to grow more in the next, causing a “trickle-down effect,” said Geoffrey Williams, an agriculture professor at Auburn University who co-authors a yearly survey on bee losses each year.

“This is one of the years where, from what I’ve heard through the grapevine, these beekeepers may not even recover,” Williams said. “In some cases, I think we’re going to lose beekeeping companies because they had to essentially just throw in the towel.”

Impact on Texas beekeepers and consumers

The heavy losses in the past year are expected to have an outsized impact on Texas, which is one of the nation’s top beekeeping states. Texas has had somewhat of a beekeeping renaissance in recent decades, with the number of beekeeping companies in the state more than quadrupling from 1,851 to 8,939 from 2012 to 2022, according to a Washington Post analysis of census data.

In addition to having a relatively mild climate ideal for growing bees, the state became an attractive location for the industry thanks to a 2012 law that gives tax breaks to those who keep bees on at least five of their acres.

But heavy losses in recent years threaten some of the beekeeping gains the state has made. The colony collapses have impacted even some of the largest honey bee outfits in Texas, hurting their revenue and ability to provide enough bees to their partners in California for almond pollination. Almond crops are fully dependent on bee pollination.

For many beekeeping companies in Texas, sending bees to pollinate almonds in California represents a high portion of their income early in the year. Some companies, like the Wheelers’ Frio Country Farms, weren’t able to send bees to pollinate in California this year. Others, like Tim Hollmann’s more than 40-year-old beekeeping business, had to send over a much smaller supply than usual.

Hollmann, 62, has operated Hollmann Apiaries since 1984, but bees have been a part of his life for even longer. In running a small bee outfit with his father during his teenage years, Hollmann said he was able to put himself through college at the University of South Dakota.

Today, he’s responsible for growing thousands of bee colonies each year. Though his business is based in South Dakota, about half of its operations are in Texas. Before Hollmann’s bees are shipped off to California in early February to pollinate almonds, they are nurtured in Texas for several months. But Hollmann has struggled to meet his quota over the past few years, and it’s unclear why that has been the case.

“We’ve lost some serious ground here last year that certainly we’re not going to make up for this year,” Hollmann said. “In fact, we’re going to fall further behind.”

While he brought about 6,750 bee colonies to Texas late last fall, he was only able to send about 1,800 to California for almond pollination earlier this month. With about 124 colonies remaining in Texas, Hollmann said more than 70 percent of his bees died in the past year, exceeding the national average. He can’t remember experiencing losses ever that high before.

Beekeepers and experts in the field have compared recent losses to a phenomenon that occurred heavily in the late 2000s called Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD. First reported in 2006, CCD occurs when a majority of worker bees in a colony suddenly disappear. In the late 2000s, honeybee colony losses jumped from about 10-15 percent on average to 30-50 percent each year. Loss averages haven’t improved since.

“The beekeeping industry has been warning for almost 20 years that we’re going to pass a point of no return at some point,” said Blake Shook, a Texas beekeeper who co-founded a business that supports others in the bee business.

The high losses over the past year, Shook said, could impact the price of fruits, vegetables and other foods reliant on bee pollination for growth. Fruits and vegetables like apples, blueberries, pumpkins and watermelons, could have their quality “greatly diminished” by heavy bee losses, he added. Texas is one of the four largest watermelon-producing states in the country, coming behind Florida, Georgia, and California.

“Bees are the backbone of agriculture,” he added. “All things that make food delicious and nutritious come from honey bees. ”

No clear cause for losses

While the heavier bee losses are putting beekeeping operations and producers at risk, it is still unclear what the underlying causes are or how they can be reversed. But bee experts say there are a few potential culprits.

According to Garett Slater, one of the state’s leading honey bee specialists at Texas A&M University, there are often five key reasons why honey bee colonies collapse: parasites like the Varroa mite, pathogens, pesticides, poor nutrition among the bees, and weak queen bees, who are responsible for keeping bee colonies unified and laying eggs. The cause of recent losses is likely a combination of these factors, said Slater, who works directly with beekeepers to help prevent colony collapse.

Varroa mites in particular have been a common pest for honey bees, Slater added. The mites are often able to spread viruses that honey bees are not immune to, he said, making it difficult to address the problem. Slater added that Texas A&M is currently working with the United States Department of Agriculture to help breed bees that are resistant to varroa mites.

Unlike the mid-to-late 2000s, Texas and the U.S. are better prepared to address the heavier bee losses today and discover why they are happening. Slater said. His position at Texas A&M is relatively new and began in June. In the role, he supervises specialists throughout the state who promote sustainable beekeeping practices.

Even prior to this past year, the losses beekeepers were facing was “already unsustainable,” Slater said. More frequent and consistent losses moving forward would already heighten the problems beekeepers are already facing, he added.

“If 70 percent losses become the new norm, that could directly impact pollination, that could directly impact honey production, (and) that could directly impact bee sales to local beekeepers and groups across the state,” Slater said. “So it could have a huge impact locally in Texas but even across the nation.”

Juliana Rangel, a professor of entomology at Texas A&M, said the losses beekeepers are seeing are likely not due to any human error. The beekeepers she’s engaged with haven’t changed their practices all that much since last year, she said, suggesting that another factor is likely at play.

Hollmann, who has been in the industry for more than 40 years, is also at a loss about what is causing the colony losses. He has his suspicions, namely that the Varroa mite might be causing havoc or colonies aren’t adequately supporting their queen bees.

But he also has bigger picture worries. Hollmann feels that continued high losses may dissuade people from joining the industry, which plays a crucial role in maintaining the food ecosystem and helping to grow nutritional foods in the U.S. and across the globe.

“I’m just not sure we’re going to get the young, talented individuals to want to carry on this industry for the next generation and generations beyond,” he said. “I’m seriously worried about that.”

___

This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.