USDA to measure quarterly bee colony loss

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will be collecting information about colony loss in the honey industry throughout the U.S. The next quarterly colony loss survey will be conducted during April. It will collect information about colony inventory and loss from more than 400 producers with honeybee colonies in the northeastern region.

“The information from these surveys directly impacts our region’s beekeepers and honey producers,” said King Whetstone, director of the NASS northeastern regional field office. “Beekeepers and producers can use the survey results when making business plans and marketing decisions. Cooperative extensions use the data to provide needed outreach and education, and state departments and agencies of agriculture use the information to set insurance values.”

A press release noted, “To ensure all survey participants have an opportunity to respond, NASS interviewers will contact producers who do not respond by mail or online to conduct interviews. NASS safeguards the privacy of all respondents and publishes only aggregate data, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified.”

Results of these quarterly surveys are published annually in the honey bee colonies report, which will be available Aug. 1. These and all NASS reports are available online at www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/. For more information, call the NASS northeastern regional field office at 800-498-1518.