New Report Shows Dangerous Trend in European Beekeeping’s Future

The population of honey bees in Europe is dying and it is dying rather quickly. The problem, however, is not what you would think. Yes, pesticides, weather, and the Varroa mite are all part of the equation. However, there is a new factor that is sending a rather loud alarm throughout the industry and it is one that is probably going to start ringing around the world. That is that beekeepers are beginning to move on from the profession.

Packing It In

With beekeepers now facing annual losses of as much as 40 percent or more of their hives, many of them are finding the costs to be too much to continue to do what they do. They are having to replace more and more of their bees and hives now costs as much as ten times what they did only a few years ago. This means that in order to make the restocking of their bees cost-effective, they have to charge more money, something their clients are started to balk at.

That, however, is only half the problem. The second part of the problem is that Chinese imports are starting to take a major toll on the industry. China is exporting far more honey products than it ever used to and at far more attractive prices to the consumer. Forget the fact the product is inferior in quality to the honey products produced throughout Europe because far too many consumers are only worried about the price they are paying for the product, especially when it comes to processed honey products.

If this trend continues, more and more beekeepers are going to leave the industry as their hive populations dwindle. Rather than replace their bees, they will simply shut down their operations and move on to another industry. If that happens, it will devastate the honey bee population and we will start to see an even more rapid decline in populations as well as more inferior products on the market.

The only recourse we have at this point to stop this trend is education. We need to make sure consumers are more aware of the quality of the products they are using to protect the industry as a whole. This is especially true in the raw honey sector where the product is far more beneficiary and healthier for consumers than the processed products they purchase for pennies on the dollar compared to quality raw honey products.

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Source: EU Observer