Honey and Health

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Commercial beekeepers are those with 300 or more bee colonies.  There are approximately 1,600 commercial beekeeping operations in the United States which produce about 60 percent of the nation’s honey.  Many commercial beekeepers migrate their colonies during the year to provide pollination services to farmers and to reach the most abundant sources of nectar.  Commercial beekeeping operations are frequently family businesses that are handed down from generation to generation and directly effect honey and health in the nation.

From 1980-2002, U.S. honey production has averaged around 200 million pounds per year.  In 2008, 161 million pounds of honey were produced in the United States, an 8% increase over 2007.  The average annual yield per colony was 69.9 pounds of honey.  The average producer price per pound was $1.41.  The 2008 honey crop was valued at over $226 million.

The U.S. per ca-pita consumption of honey is around 1.29 pounds per year. Honey and Health are important and related as they go hand in hand as natures way to keep the population healthy. Millions of acres of U.S. fruit, vegetable, oilseed and legume seed crops depend on insect pollination, including honey bees. A 1999 Cornell University study concluded that the direct value of honey bee pollination annually to U.S. agriculture is $14.6 billion.  This is a 56.7% increase from $9.3 billion determined by the same study in 1989.

The following states are the top five honey producing states for 2008. Honey is produced in every state.

In addition to producing honey, honey bees produce beeswax and help pollinate agricultural crops, home gardens and wildlife habitat. The USDA has estimated that 80 percent of insect crop pollination is accomplished by honey bees.  Approximately one-third of the total human diet including honey and health is derived directly or indirectly from insect-pollinated plants (fruits, legumes and vegetables).
The almond crop is entirely dependent on honey bee pollination— without honey bees, there would be no almonds.  California is responsible for more than half of the world’s production of almonds.  To pollinate California’s approximately 420,000 bearing acres of almonds, it is estimated that it takes between 900,000 and 1,000,000 colonies of honey bees.

Numerous other crops are 90 percent dependent on honey bee pollination.  Some of those crops include apples, avocados, blueberries, cherries, cranberries and sunflowers.  Other crops such as alfalfa, cucumbers, kiwi fruit, melons and vegetables are also pollinated by honey bees. It is easy to understand the importance of Honey and Health when it comes to pollinating crops.

Livestock feed and the production of most beef and dairy products consumed in the United States is dependent on insect-pollinated legumes (alfalfa, clover, etc.).  One half of all alfalfa seed produced comes from California.  Approximately 220,000 colonies of honey bees are used to pollinate alfalfa fields for seed production.

The professional practice and the first colony of bees ever rented for pollination purposes was in 1909 for pollinating apples.  The practice of renting bees to pollinate crops is expanding.  Most pollination services available to growers in the United States are provided by commercial beekeepers.  Approximately 2,500,000 colonies are rented for pollination each year and the average value of these crops is over $5.7 billion dollars, another extremely important aspect of Honey and Health.

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