Are The Bees OK Or Not? USDA Bee Colony Numbers Disputed

KPFA - A Rude Awakening

On today’s show, I’ll speak to award winning, investigative journalist Rebecca Raney. Her her latest article in U. S. Right To Know (usrtk.org) discusses the fudged numbers surrounding the nationwide bee population.

In her article entitled, “Are the Bees Okay or Not. USDA Bee Colony Numbers Disputed”, Rebecca Raney states:

“Beekeepers and honey producers are disputing a federal honeybee census estimate of 3.8 million colonies in the United States in 2022 – a record number for the nationwide count. That estimate showed a 35 percent increase from the estimate of 2.8 million colonies in 2017. The report drove headlines claiming that U.S. bee farms are “buzzing” and that bees are “flourishing again.”

To beekeeping advocates, inflated numbers of bee colonies – a prominent statistic on bee health – can undermine efforts to get funding to improve colony health. To conservationists, high-profile reports of record numbers of bee colonies in the face of a well-documented trend of insect extinctions complicate the job of maintaining public awareness about food security and the effects of pesticides.”

Additional Articles by Rebecca Raney: “Anatomy of a science meeting: How controversial pesticide research all but vanished from a major conference”

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