2026 Honey Bee Update

At the Almond Conference in December, I shared an update on the state of beekeeping and the challenges our industry continues to face. This article is a follow-up to that presentation and provides a current snapshot as we head into almond pollination.

Without question, the work of raising strong, productive colonies has become increasingly difficult. One complicating factor is that it’s often impossible to know how well bees have survived the winter until just weeks before pollination begins. Even with new monitoring technologies, no one predicted the level of colony losses experienced last year.

A Tightening Supply of Colonies

One trend is clear: the total number of colonies available for almond pollination is declining. The chart below shows information collected at California Department of Food and Agriculture Border Protection Stations (BPS) on the number of colonies crossing into California over the past five years. This information illustrates a gradual downward trend.

This decline reflects mounting pressures on the beekeeping industry, including rising costs, ongoing colony stress, and long-term attrition among commercial beekeepers.

Rising Costs and Shrinking Margins

As almond growers know all too well, the cost of doing business—particularly in California—continues to rise.

At the same time as costs associated with beekeeping have risen dramatically, the supplemental income many beekeepers rely on from honey production is declining. A major driver is the influx of  cheaper and lower quality imported honey flooding U.S. markets. This erosion of secondary income further strains an industry already under pressure.

Bee Health Challenges Affect Everyone

Beekeepers are actively working to find solutions. A major focus is controlling the varroa mite, widely considered the primary driver of colony losses. Last year, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation registered two additional products for varroa control — important new tools for beekeepers.  Timely approvals of new products such as these are critical for beekeepers to stay ahead of disease challenges.

Having better tools to manage varroa mite will have a direct impact on stronger colonies for almonds but also go a long way to make our industry more financially sustainable. Beyond getting more miticides on the market, beekeepers are seeing some positive developments recently with breeding more mite resistant queens that naturally suppress mite reproduction. The Hilo Bee breeding project would be an example of this. 

Pesticides and Pollinator Risk

On the topic of crop protection, I also want to share recent information regarding organo-silicone surfactants, which are often added to fungicide applications and have been shown to negatively affect bees. I encourage growers and PCAs to review this issue carefully. The chart below outlines commonly used organo-silicone surfactants and identifies lower-risk alternatives that can reduce unintended impacts on pollinators.

Nutrition and the Loss of Forage

Another serious and growing issue for commercial beekeepers is the dramatic loss of land available for bee forage. Like all living things, bees require adequate nutrition to remain healthy. A single colony needs roughly 50 pounds of pollen annually to meet protein needs and 100 pounds of honey to meet carbohydrate needs.

Unfortunately, suitable forage is becoming increasingly scarce. Enrollment in the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)—historically some of the best forage land for bees—declined significantly between 2007 and 2022, resulting in a net loss of 14.8 million acres and area larger than the entire Central Valley of California. At the same time, beekeepers are losing access to federal and state public lands for a variety of reasons. Add urbanization and changing cropping patterns, and each year there is simply less land capable of meeting bees’ nutritional needs.

Poor nutrition weakens colonies and makes them more susceptible to pests, pathogens, and viruses. Many in the industry believe this chronic nutritional stress is one of the underlying causes of widespread colony losses.

Working Together

Beekeepers are deeply grateful for the Almond Board’s investment in programs such as Seeds for Bees and for its continued support of research that benefits honey bee health.

The California State Beekeepers Association has also recently published a white paper outlining the top issues we are working on to sustain and improve colony health and survivability. More information is available on our website. I also participated in a panel discussion at the Almond Conference in December that expanded on many of the topics covered here; that presentation is available through the Almond Board.

Joining me on that panel was Elina L. Niño, Extension Apiculture Specialist with UC Davis, who presented research on self-fertile almond varieties. Her conclusion was clear: even self-fertile almonds will continue to rely on honey bees to produce crops profitably at one hive per acre. These varieties may reduce the number of colonies needed, but they will not eliminate the need for bees.

That reality underscores an essential truth: the partnership between almond growers and beekeepers remains critically important—and will continue to be so well into the future.