USDA to measure quarterly colony loss and honey production
(by USAgNet – 03/14/2019)
Note: This anonymous survey is instrumental in determining insurance values of bee colonies. It is important that our area beekeepers participate.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will be collecting information about colony loss in the honey industry throughout the United States. The Quarterly Colony Loss survey will be conducted over the period of March 2019 through April 2019. This survey collects information about colony inventory and loss from more than 400 producers with honey bee colonies in the Northeastern rgion of the United States.
“The information from these surveys directly impacts our region’s beekeepers and honey producers,” said King Whetstone, director of the NASS Northeastern Regional Field Office. “Beekeepers and producers can use the survey results when making business plans and marketing decisions. Cooperative Extension uses the data to provide needed outreach and education and State Departments and Agencies of Agriculture use the information to set insurance values.”
In these surveys, NASS asks participants to answer a variety of questions about their colonies. For their convenience, survey participants have been given the option to respond online. As with all NASS surveys, information provided by respondents is confidential by law. NASS safeguards the confidentiality of all responses and publishes only State and National level data, ensuring that no individual producer or operation can be identified.
The annual Honey Bee Colonies publication will be available online on August 1, 2019. Previous publications are also available for review. For more information on NASS surveys and reports, call the NASS Northeastern Regional Field Office at 1-800-498-1518.
