This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.
By Lynn La, CalMatters
Honey bees across the country are under attack from tiny, eight-legged parasitic mites. These mites burrow between the segments of the bees’ adult bodies or invade their larvae and infect them with viruses — deforming their wings and leaving them flightless.
That’s not only problematic for the bees — whose entire colonies can be destroyed by an unchecked mite invasion — but also for California, which relies on the bees for its food production and economy.
Earlier this month the state Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill that would direct the California Department of Food and Agriculture to establish a health program for managed honey bees. The department would work with beekeepers, farmers, scientists, agricultural commissioners and other stakeholders to provide grants for projects and research that support managed honey bees.
“Without our honey bees, we are at risk of losing jobs and a huge part of our economy,” said Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom, a Stockton Democrat and bill author. “This (bill) is integral at maintaining our ability to be self-sustaining and contributing to healthy foods in the U.S. and across the world.”
Another Central Valley lawmaker, Republican Assemblymember Heather Hadwick of Redding, co-authored the bill.
Honey bees and mites
Compared to carpenter bees or bumble bees, honey bees are much more manageable pollinators that build stronger and bigger colonies. They’re essential for pollinating California’s most lucrative crops, including cherries, melons and almonds. California almonds are a multibillion-dollar industry, and the pollination of California almond orchards serves as the largest honey bee migration in the world.
In 2024, California bees also produced 13.3 million pounds of honey — nearly 10% of the country’s supply — valued at $32.8 million.
But beginning in the late 1980s, Varroa mites originally native to Asia began infiltrating bee colonies in the U.S. By the early 2000s, they were “in everyone’s hives,” said Ryan Burris, the president of the California State Beekeepers Association and a third generation beekeeper.
Pesticides and other pest management methods stabilized the bee population over the decades somewhat. But commercial honey bee deaths have been soaring in the U.S. in recent years, and the reason why remains unclear. Between June 2024 and March 2025, 1.6 million colonies were lost, with commercial beekeepers reported losing an average of 62% of their colonies. This nationwide scarcity has also given rise to more beehive thefts.
Besides the mites, honey bees are threatened by pesticides, habitat loss and a lack of food and nutrition. Each hazard presents its own problems, but the mites in particular have vexed beekeepers.
Killing the mites with pesticides is complex: The mites have grown resistant to some chemicals, so beekeepers have to routinely swap out different pesticides while trying to avoid contaminating the bees’ honey with large doses of chemicals. The financial losses due to mites can be staggering, according to Burris.
“There’s a time when you’re treating, treating, treating. You want to give the bees a break but the mites just come back,” Burris said. “They blow up, and all the money you spent trying to save and treat the bees is out the door. It’s totally disheartening because this is our livelihood. A hive can get you almond pollination money; pollination money off of other crops; and honey.”
A health program for bees
The Managed Honeybee Health Program proposed by Ransom and Hadwick would provide grants to help beekeepers and farmers plant more crops for bees to forage on; buy feed; or purchase probiotics to improve the bees’ health, among other things
The program would be funded either through the state, nonstate, federal and private funds or a combination. Funding for the grants would likely range in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to the low millions, while operating costs, such as staff to manage contracts, would cost in the low hundreds of thousands, according to Carson Knight, a legislative aide for Ransom’s office.
While there is no formal opposition to the proposal, securing the funding could be a tough sell for lawmakers as they grapple with a $12 billion budget shortfall.
The bill is currently before the Senate Agriculture Committee, where it could be considered as early as mid-July. Until then, Burris said he is crossing his fingers that the measure, if signed into law, will help the beekeeping industry.
“Bees are so important,” Burris said. Without the bees, “you can take out three-quarters of your supermarket.”
Also Read
- One of the Biggest Night Markets in the US Returns to Southern California
- Magnitude 3.3 Earthquake Rattles Near Rio Dell Area
- Prolonged Heat Wave to Peak This Week Across Southern California, Raising Risk of Heat-Related Illness
- AI images scandalized a California elementary school. Now the state is pushing new safeguards
- Vehicle Shears Off Fire Hydrant in Solvang; Crews Quickly Stop Water
It is, as always, a little more complicated.
“But the discovery of amitraz-resistant mites in hives does not mean they alone were responsible for all of last year’s record die-offs. A combination of factors is likely to be causing successive colony deaths among US bees, including the changing climate, exposure to pesticides, and less food in the form of pollen and nectar as monocrop farming proliferates. Many US beekeepers now expect to lose 30% of their colony or more every year.
These wider combined factors are also devastating for wild pollinators and native bee species – and honeybees, which are closely monitored by their keepers, may be acting as a canary in the coalmine for pressures affecting insects more generally.
Adee says: “We had mites for 20 years, and we never had over 3% losses.” He believes there is a “combination of things” that makes the bees more stressed and the mites more deadly.
He cites the use of neonicotinoid insecticides in the US, which harm bees’ nervous system, paralysing and ultimately killing them. Some researchers have warned of neonicotinoids causing another “silent spring”, referring to Rachel Carson’s 1962 book on the effects of the insecticide DDT on bird populations.
…
Dave Goulson, professor of biology at the University of Sussex, says the study provided no evidence that the viral load was higher in weaker colonies. “Almost all bee colonies have these viruses, but they only do significant harm when the colony is stressed.”
Due to government staffing cuts, the USDA team were unable to analyse pesticides in the hives and asked bee experts at Cornell University to carry out the research, with the results still to be published.
Experts are concerned that successive loss of honeybee colonies could affect food security as the insects pollinate more than 100 commercial crops across North America. Reports of new losses this year came through before the California almond blossom season, which is the largest pollination event in the world, requiring the services of 70% of US honeybees.
“If beekeepers fail, there is no backup plan for the pollination services they provide in US food production,” she says.
Meanwhile, beekeepers are being pushed close to ruin. When Adee was growing up, he would get upset about losses of more than 5%. Now a loss of 30% each year is standard. “It’s absolutely insane that that’s an acceptable loss in a livestock industry,” he says.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/08/record-us-bee-colony-dieoffs-climate-stress-pesticides-silent-spring-aoe
We’re so screwed. I just don’t see humanity coming together to counter climate and other issues that will affect the planet and every inhabitant.
Think for a moment beyond the Borg mentallity and news. Think about the “renewables”; Solar panels and wind turbine blades kill millions of birds, mammals, and insects, but since the data does not fit the narative, it escapes media’s attention. Humans have just created more vehicles of destuction to earth’s enviromes.
You’re ignoring the fact that the petroleum industry does far more damage and costs much more, much of it in subsidies.
But, your con social media provides you with your lies, and you have a compulsion to repeat them.
CHANGEUP – oh give it a rest. The media was all over that when it was a problem. The tech has advanced by leaps and bounds since then and solar and wind are far more safe for birds and insects. They never were a problem for mammals – not sure where you got that from.
Funniest part is how you completely ignore the FACT that coal/oil extraction, production and use are far more deadly to wildlife in every step of the way.
Like ANON says, you need to avoid the lies on social media and all Con media.
Why do you put renewables in quotes? Do you truly believe that the sun and wind are not renewable? Sheeaaat…… It’s honestly scary that some of you people are driving cars on the same road as my kids.
Get smarter, America!