Iowa honey production bounces back after disastrous 2014

Honey production in Iowa rose 20 percent last year, recovering from a disastrous 2014 when it hit the lowest point since 2010.

Honey from Iowa producers with five or more colonies totaled 1.80 million pounds in 2015, up from the 1.51 million pounds produced in 2014. The number of honey producing colonies in the state rose from 35,000 colonies in 2014 to 36,000 colonies last year.

Yield per colony in Iowa averaged 50 pounds, up from 43 pounds per colony in 2014. The state ranked 18th nationally in honey production last year, up one notch from 2014.

Iowa's 2015 honey crop was valued at $4.19 million, an increase of about 16 percent from the previous year's $3.63 million. The average price per pound was $2.33, down 8 cents from 2014.

Andrew Joseph, state apiarist and bee expert, said Iowa's honey bee population benefited from a variety of positive factors in 2015.

”It was cool, there was plenty of sun and that kept the bees going. It wasn't very stressful on them as organisms,” Joseph said. 'The incidence of disease was much lower than in a typical year, at least in terms of what we saw in our inspections.

'It also kept the bloom on (flowers and clover) much longer. We saw White Dutch clover in bloom all the way through August in most areas of the state, and that's almost unheard of. There was lots of forage around for bees, which gave the colonies a boost in terms of what was available to them.”

Joseph said the outlook for Iowa honey production in 2016 is positive.

'We're off to an early start and that can be encouraging,” he said. 'Most things are starting to bloom up in central and southern Iowa. The honeybees in those areas have already started bringing in some pollens.

'These early pollen sources help the bees brood up and the honey bee colony responds to that protein.

'If we can get colonies developing early in the season, that will mean a large workforce (of bees) as the season continues on through the summer.”

Joseph said winter honey bee losses, typically 15 percent to 20 percent, are expected to be much lower this year due to milder weather.

'Overall it was a shorter winter without extended cold periods like we have had in recent years,” he said. 'If you look back two years, we had polar vortexes and arctic blasts. Those can be really stressful on bees.”

Iowa's rebound in honey production last year contrasted with a decline nationally.

Honey production from producers with five or more colonies totaled 157 million pounds in 2015, down about 12 percent from 178 million pounds in 2014. There were 2.66 million colonies producing honey in 2014, down about 3 percent from 2.74 million colonies in 2014.

Yield per colony averaged 58.9 pounds of honey, about a 10 percent decrease from 65.1 pounds in 2013.

Honey prices declined to $2.09 per pound in 2015, down about 4 percent from a record high $2.16 per pound in 2014.

North Dakota produced the most honey of any state in 2015 with 36.3 million pounds, down from 42.1 million the previous year. The state's crop was valued at $65.3 million.

Price and production data were not collected for operations with less than five colonies.