Is Beekeeping Relevant?

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By: John Miller

Fruit on display at La Boqueria market in Barcelona, Spain. Photo by: Dungodung.

To beekeepers, yes! We absolutely are relevant! We are the gatekeepers of the food supply!

However, we often occupy our own tribal echo chamber. We are fabulously flattered when someone beyond our tribe asks for an interview, or a recorded studio program, a videoed production and the 2024 near-ubiquitous podcast.

But make no mistake. There is, in America – whether in the public/private arena or government policy-making – a near-complete absence of awareness of beekeeping.

This observation is not necessarily true in North Dakota, where 823,000 legally registered colonies of bees (and another 200,000 or so more unregistered colonies) will produce 25% of the entire American honey crop. We have more bees than people up here; probably more bees than cows. There are over 22,000 registered locations in North Dakota. Those 2300 +/- semi loads of bees will begin the 2025 season in a California almond orchard.

But back to the narrative. Generally speaking – beekeeping, and beekeepers are a curiosity. A Farmers Market oddity in a farmers market of oddities. Less than 1% of the food consumed in America is purchased at the 5,345 Farmers Markets (2021 USDA). I’m not far from right saying the average Austin commuter is blissfully unaware of beekeeping – though acutely aware of electricity rates and the price of gasoline. That’s because Austinites use a lot of electricity to cool their homes and businesses every day; and they drive a lot of miles in the famous Texas-size city sprawl. Austinites do have a jar of honey, or maybe hunny; somewhere, maybe in a cupboard.

It isn’t easy to raise awareness. A trillion dollars in American advertising seldom does more than dull our senses – but it can be done. A few recent examples of break-through awareness:
New Coke! The Toyota Prius. The 1984 Macintosh (and the memorable Super Bowl ad).
The iPhone (2006). Asian Citrus Psyllid (destroying the Florida citrus industry).

Digital Content upending print, magazines, maps, newspapers, newsletters, you name it.

Most awareness-raising is temporary and frivolous. Are you a Swifty? Some awareness is lasting: treatments for diseases, cancers, obesity. But long term, the steady drumbeat to get more exercise! improve our diets! falls on deaf ears; ‘It’s too hard’. Eat more honey! Meh.

American beekeepers may number 125,000 out of 330,000,000 Americans. Of that number, maybe 500 outfits represent 95% of the managed American colonies. Of that 500, maybe 100 outfits populate the beekeeping industry groups that fund the research, write the letters, drive the incremental improvements, sample new stock introductions, try out the new devices, collaborate with customers – which isn’t often easy – and challenge suppliers to do more with less. Twenty years ago I told equipment suppliers it was time to stop hand assembling, stapling, nailing, painting and stenciling hive bodies, rims, lids, and bottom boards. Two years later, we stopped buying hammers and nail guns and pallets of paint because the suppliers, Mann Lake, Dadant and Used Pallet Co. recognized and met the customers needs. A semi-load of 1800 assembled, painted, stenciled, branded deep rims is not cheap – but it is cheaper than an entire crew pounding together rims when beekeeping employees should be keeping bees, not blacking fingernails.

There is a Why in all this commentary. Why a microscopic sliver of the 330,000,000 Americans will profoundly upend beekeeping.
Supply chains, especially during this decade are under intense scrutiny; growers, handlers, packaging, transportation, sanitation, compliance, irrigation (where needed) all represent supply chain intersections. Honey bees, the most beneficial pollinator in crop production are also a link coming under scrutiny in ways we do not yet fully comprehend. We will.

An example: The supply of colonies available for almond pollination is finite. The strength of those colonies, on a macro basis, is a Bell curve. The market for pollinating units, a colony of bees, ranges from the $80 colony to the $240 colony – depending on the myriad motivations growers evaluate. For industries dependent on bees, and knowing the upheavals beekeepers endure with all kinds of pressure on bees – colony health being the primary, and queen bee survival as a close second; It should be no surprise that as supply chains are ever more closely scrutinized – an ominous alternative, no – it’s a necessity – presents.

Eliminate risk. Eliminating supply chain risks = stronger supply chain performance.

Eliminate the need for a beneficial pollinator. Risk associated with colony availability is eliminated; weather condition risks are reduced. The examples are in the almond industry. Following is a list of ‘self-fruitful’ almond varieties.

The Independence variety represented 363,000,000 pounds of almond production in 2023.

The Liberty variety represented 9.5 thousand pounds in 2023.

Shasta variety represented 36.5 million pounds of production.

Yorizane variety will have production volume for the first time in 2024.

EarlyBird variety was released in 2024.

UC Variety Trials not yet released:
UCD 8-160
UCD 1-271
Y 117-86-03
Y 117-91-03
P16.013
P19.013
UCD 8-201
Y-121-42-99

These varieties, in the absence of bees, may not produce the 3,500 pounds per acre of Nonpareil; and may lack the superior flavor of a Carmel; but trials will continue, and accelerate.

The grower eliminates the $400+ per acre pollination fee cost. Weather is not yet controlled; but do not underestimate the California Legislature’s ability to withhold water. As genetics race ahead at the speed of computational capacity – change will be imposed on how food is produced. In a population of 330 million consumers – probably 90% of those consumers will not know, or care – where food comes from. 30% of all produce is now imported, anyway. Americans can buy citrus from South Africa, Chilean cherries & berries in November, blueberries from everywhere 12 months a year.

Do consumers, sentient people who are aware that they are aware; do these people who like to eat connect the jar of honey, the by-product of keeping bees – do they connect the jar of honey with the intangible, the indirect benefit that the hard-working colony of bees produced? Of course not. At Kroeger’s or at Costco, the honey is stocked far, far away from the most evident primary product – the fresh produce section. I’m not going to whine about the placement of honey next to maple-flavored high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated peanut goo. That is not the point.

A thousand years ago the only sweetener available was honey. No one in the year 1024 gave a fig about crop pollination. In 2024 we bloat in an ocean of cheap sweeteners. Crop pollination and food security will sustain beekeeping for some time to come. However, The Future Will Be Different.

john@millerhoneyfarms.com