While some places in the world suffer terribly with drought, such has not been the case this year in Yucatan. Excessive rainfall and heat have had a negative impact on the flowering of plants that feed the bees. This, of course, results in decreased honey production. Usually when this happens, Yucatan state provides the beekeepers with sugar to feed the bees. Unfortunately, the price of sugar has gone up to the point that the state cannot completely underwrite the Yucatan beekeeping industry. This has led to a drop in the number of beekeepers from 12,000 to 10,000 and a drop in the number of hives from 240,000 to 200,000 since last year. That may not sound too bad, but the actual honey production has fallen by 70%. Since beekeepers do not have an alternate crop, this is a serious situation. Hopefully, the fall flowers will be abundant and this little short period will be just a bad memory within three or four months.
