1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,640 Welcome, welcome to Be Love Beekeeping presented by our good friends at Man Lake. 2 00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:14,160 In this episode, we're skipping some of the fun stuff up front and jumping right into 3 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:16,480 a really important topic. 4 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:21,920 Last week I touched on the scary news about massive bee die-offs, especially with commercial 5 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:23,560 beekeepers. 6 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:28,080 And I promised to report back with new info as soon as it was made available. 7 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:35,160 Today we're presenting a discussion with Chris Hyatt, the recent past president of the AHA 8 00:00:35,160 --> 00:00:37,920 American Honey Producers Association. 9 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:41,560 He will give his personal take on what's going on. 10 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:46,480 Then just a couple of hours ago, the Honey Bee Health Coalition emailed some new updated 11 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:51,200 numbers of colony losses and the associated economic impact. 12 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:56,200 So after we hear from Chris, we'll wrap up with that information, which is even more 13 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:00,680 fresh than what we had when we spoke with Chris a couple of days ago. 14 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:06,080 So let's get right to it. 15 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:10,680 I'd like to welcome our very special guest today, Chris Hyatt from California. 16 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:11,680 How are you, Chris? 17 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:13,280 I'm good, I'm good. 18 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:14,280 Good. 19 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:22,960 I want to jump right into the big excitement, fear, everything that's going on that's been 20 00:01:22,960 --> 00:01:26,840 in the news with huge amounts of honey bee losses. 21 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:32,920 And you're in a good position to talk about it because you are the recent past president 22 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:35,600 of the American Honey Producers Association. 23 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:36,840 Did I get that right? 24 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:38,400 Yep, correct. 25 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:44,040 And a lifelong beekeeper going back generations and you're a commercial beekeeper. 26 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:47,120 You have bees in the almonds right now. 27 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:52,940 So before we get into everything that you can teach us, what do you know about the 28 00:01:52,940 --> 00:01:56,960 quote crisis that's going on with honey bees right now? 29 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:03,280 Well, it does look like it might be the worst year since, you know, CCD 2007, 2008. 30 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:09,960 There's a lot of operations that have lost 60, 70, 80 percent and it's not one location. 31 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:15,680 I've heard guys from North Dakota, Texas, Washington state, it's all over the map. 32 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:21,040 So unfortunately for us, we didn't have big losses this winter. 33 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:24,080 We get one of our best winters last five years. 34 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:26,040 But the previous two were pretty bad for us. 35 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:31,560 So to me, it seems like it's Varroa mites with the viruses in the middle of the winter, 36 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:37,800 the mites, you'll get them under control in the fall, but the virus is already there. 37 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:39,040 And it's a ticking time bomb. 38 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:42,720 When the cold weather comes, you try to overwinter them, then you lose. 39 00:02:42,720 --> 00:02:47,800 And I've even some beards that I overwinter here in California. 40 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:53,000 And there's some that just lost two, three frames of bees between Christmas and just 41 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:54,920 after New Year's for no reason. 42 00:02:54,920 --> 00:02:59,280 And there's other yards that gained two, three frames of bees for no reason. 43 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:01,400 So it's just kind of random. 44 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:05,640 So do you have any idea what the, I mean, you mentioned viruses, but why would it be 45 00:03:05,640 --> 00:03:08,880 worse this year than last year or the year before? 46 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:14,680 Well, you know, the price of honey is coming down after our dumping suit. 47 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:20,720 And so some guys skimped on input cost and then even I was ahead of below honey, I was 48 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:22,800 below average this year for our honey crops. 49 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:25,680 So some people were maybe skimped a little bit and didn't get the mite treatments on 50 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,160 in time and they got hurt by it. 51 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,280 And there's all, well, there's all sorts of factors, but I mean, in every operations 52 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:35,800 different and every geographic area is different. 53 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:39,240 And there could be some pesticide mixed into that doesn't help. 54 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:40,760 There's so many variables. 55 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:46,240 But from what I'm hearing, there's a pretty good commonality that there was viruses built 56 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:52,440 up and maybe they didn't get some of these guys didn't get the broa under control soon. 57 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:54,920 They got them under control, but it might have been too late. 58 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:57,040 What is soon enough, September? 59 00:03:57,040 --> 00:03:59,920 Yeah, or August. 60 00:03:59,920 --> 00:04:05,520 We start in August, but one of the former bee informed partnership, you know, inspectors 61 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:10,200 who went on his own, we still have him continuing to inspect our bees. 62 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:16,960 And he mentioned in North Dakota, he was surprised how high the mite counts were mid-September. 63 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:19,760 And luckily we have a lot of zeros and ones and twos. 64 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:24,760 When you do a, you know, 300 bees, you do the alcohol wash, we had low counts, but there's 65 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:29,000 a lot of guys that had, he said five, seven, nine, 10s, 15s. 66 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:30,440 In my mind, that's too late. 67 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:35,440 Yeah, you could get them under control, but the virus is the deformed wing virus, like 68 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,160 cyanide is really B for Alice's virus. 69 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:41,840 They're there and they're waiting to take the hive, the bees out when the cool weather 70 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:46,720 hits and you got no, no, no floral activity and nothing. 71 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:51,560 So I know the USDA and others are studying this right now and it's going to be quite 72 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:57,160 a while before they have enough data to really come out with what's going on and specific 73 00:04:57,160 --> 00:04:58,160 numbers. 74 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:05,040 But just from what you're observing, are you finding that the worst cases are from Florida, 75 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:08,120 from North Dakota, from where? 76 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:12,120 It's, there's definitely some from South Dakota. 77 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:16,520 The buddy runs a big operation in South Dakota, North Dakota, Texas. 78 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:21,600 I know some Washington state beekeepers that have lost a ton, 60, 70% of their operation. 79 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:25,240 But then there's other guys that in that same area, Washington state, he said, just like 80 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,800 I did, one of his best winners last 10 years. 81 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:34,480 So I mean, that to me, that does point more to viruses, Boromite, because if it was a 82 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:40,480 widespread pesticide issue, it wouldn't be across all these geographical areas. 83 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:46,280 If you could talk to hobby and sidelineers beekeepers for a minute, give them an idea 84 00:05:46,280 --> 00:05:50,360 of what they should be doing to get on top of Varroa and when. 85 00:05:50,360 --> 00:05:52,400 And I know that's a huge, huge topic. 86 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:53,400 Yeah. 87 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,520 But you just talked about timing, which I don't hear talked about a lot. 88 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:58,400 So get into that. 89 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:02,360 Well I was on, I'm on the steering committee for the Honey Bee Health Coalition and their 90 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:07,560 Varroa mite guide is the number one guide, literally in the world, I think most down 91 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:10,080 go to most red and it's very accurate. 92 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:17,240 I mean, you have to do spring treatments before your honey float treatments, as soon as you 93 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,400 can post honey harvest treatments and then you got to follow up and follow up and follow 94 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:22,400 up. 95 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:26,240 And I think that's my biggest advice, probably for hobbyists and sidelineers, you got to 96 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:30,800 follow up to make sure that my treatment worked and what your mite levels are. 97 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:38,720 You might have to do repeated and rotate, for mac acid to amatraz, to oxalic acid glycerin 98 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:42,640 to, and you got to keep changing it up and stay on top of it. 99 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:46,080 I mean, that's the biggest advice I'd give. 100 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:48,000 And by follow up, you mean testing. 101 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:50,200 Yeah, doing your mite counts. 102 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:54,480 That's the most common thing that I hear from people asking me questions. 103 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:56,680 Why didn't my bees make it over winter? 104 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:00,960 And if I ask, well, what was your mite load in the fall? 105 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:03,560 Oh, yeah, that's usually they don't know. 106 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:05,080 That's got to be number one now. 107 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:09,160 I mean, people don't realize it, but that's your room on 30 years almost, the borough 108 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:10,160 might hear. 109 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:12,400 Yeah, you got to know your mite levels. 110 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:13,400 Got to know it. 111 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:14,400 Okay. 112 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:18,720 So should we be panicked about what's going on with bee losses right now? 113 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:21,280 Well, I want to be sensitive. 114 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,960 I don't want to say panic, but it was hard for me and my brothers to rebuild the last 115 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:27,320 two years and expensive. 116 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:31,040 And it will be expensive and hard for some of these guys that have lost a lot of bees 117 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:32,540 this year. 118 00:07:32,540 --> 00:07:36,720 And there's some that I've heard maybe don't even have enough money to rebuild. 119 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,440 So we'll come through it just like we have had in the past. 120 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:45,280 There'll be, you know, the, I'm seeing on Facebook, there's hives already for sale here 121 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:48,480 for next month when the almonds are done. 122 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:52,240 The prices aren't astronomical, but we'll recover. 123 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:58,200 But I do feel for the operations that lost so much because I think Trump had froze some 124 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:02,040 of the ELAP payments and they might have to wait for them. 125 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:04,080 So it's just a lot of uncertainty right now. 126 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:07,200 So yeah, it's definitely newsworthy. 127 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:08,200 And we want the news. 128 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:09,200 We want the attention. 129 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:14,640 We're, you know, we're so important to commercial beekeepers for the national food supply, pollinating 130 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:16,040 all these crops. 131 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:21,200 Besides the honey we make, I mean, it's keeping all this food domestically here, not having 132 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:22,800 to import food. 133 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:23,800 So we need to stay in business. 134 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:28,880 And that's a good message to get across to all media across, you know, across the country. 135 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:29,880 All right. 136 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:31,200 Well, you got the biggest one here. 137 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:32,700 There we go. 138 00:08:32,700 --> 00:08:33,860 Just kidding. 139 00:08:33,860 --> 00:08:34,860 One of these days. 140 00:08:34,860 --> 00:08:38,680 Hey, tell us what it's like to be a commercial beekeeper. 141 00:08:38,680 --> 00:08:44,080 We've had a lot of hobbyists on this show, but what's an average day and year and calendar 142 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:46,720 like for you and your family? 143 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:52,560 Well, almost all days are different to be honest, like sometimes I'm meeting farmers, 144 00:08:52,560 --> 00:08:56,920 sometimes I'm moving bees, sometimes I'm feeding bees, sometimes I'm doing yard rent 145 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:01,480 to farmers, sometimes I'm doing bills and paperwork. 146 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:04,600 But calendar year, let's, we start right here. 147 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:07,920 I'm in California, which I live, you know, eight months of the year, we're putting bees 148 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:08,920 into almonds. 149 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:13,280 We got them ready the last month of January feeding in one last time, one more pollen 150 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:14,480 patty. 151 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:15,640 We move them into almonds. 152 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:21,840 We also do a little bit of plums and blueberries and cherries, but after this big pollination 153 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:28,760 event, we start rebuilding all those deadouts, making nooks off of our good surviving hives. 154 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:33,720 And we get queens from Hawaii and start building three, four or 5,000 nooks. 155 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:37,640 And we put those into oranges to build up here in the central valley. 156 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:45,360 And we sent about 9,000 hives to Washington state, to two brothers that I have up there. 157 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:48,440 And they pollinate apples in Washington state. 158 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:52,600 And then meanwhile, we'll be making a little bit of orange honey and the nooks will top 159 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:57,440 box them and they'll be full blown hives ready to go to North Dakota for the summer. 160 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:02,400 So we'll continue, you know, April, May, my treatment, serve where needed. 161 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:05,880 And then we start stockpiling and moving bees to North Dakota. 162 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:09,360 And we've done that for 70 something. 163 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,920 My dad used to go to Alberta, Canada in the late 60s, early 70s. 164 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:18,480 And then so everybody go, the families go and we start harvesting honey. 165 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:20,760 And then, you know, the kids go back to school. 166 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:24,080 And so I'm a bachelor or month or two of the year in North Dakota. 167 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:26,040 And it's just a lot of hard work. 168 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:30,160 Luckily we have forklifts and pallets, but I mean, it's my hands are sore, back sore, 169 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:32,600 shoulder, lifting all this honey, putting them on pallets. 170 00:10:32,600 --> 00:10:33,600 I love pulling honey. 171 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:38,560 That's the fun, rewarding being outdoor, turn a podcast on or radio station on and you're 172 00:10:38,560 --> 00:10:40,520 outdoor working all day. 173 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:42,560 And then you bring now that honey back to the shop. 174 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:44,480 And I have a brother that runs the extract crew. 175 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:47,600 We extracts and spins all the honey out. 176 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:53,720 And then we start with the my treatments again in August and feeding again, pollen patties. 177 00:10:53,720 --> 00:11:01,560 We probably do buy pollen patties between September 1st, January 15th, because you just 178 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:05,120 don't want any of the, you just don't, you try not to get these bees any chance to go 179 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:07,600 downhill to lose population. 180 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:09,080 It doesn't always work. 181 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:10,760 Then we start shipping back here to California. 182 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:16,080 So all the bees come back here to California over winter here in October, November, December, 183 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:19,640 we're feeding, pulling off deadouts, even replacing Queens. 184 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:24,480 Man, we get Queens probably 10 months of the year, almost 11 months of the year. 185 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:28,960 We always have Queens in our side boxes or in our cabs of our trucks, replacing Queens. 186 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:33,040 Cause you know, the only last year, year and a half, I mean, we were more than a quarter 187 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:37,160 million weight beyond that actually on Queens spent every year. 188 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:42,440 So you got to have it because you got to have those viable hives and the queen, anything 189 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:46,560 suspect you want to kill her because you don't want to lose that $200 or high for almonds 190 00:11:46,560 --> 00:11:49,440 that I've dying during the winter. 191 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:51,280 And that's pretty much a typical year. 192 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:52,280 Wow. 193 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:54,240 You have a good way of summarizing that. 194 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:56,280 I've done it a few times. 195 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:58,200 A few times. 196 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:00,400 How many hives is your family running? 197 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:01,900 We're running about 17,000. 198 00:12:01,900 --> 00:12:02,900 We used to be 20. 199 00:12:02,900 --> 00:12:05,320 We've kind of downsized just a little bit. 200 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:09,360 Some of that is just because of not getting back up to the number we want from how many 201 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:15,680 last two winners, not this one, but the two before, but yeah, 17 to 19,000 usually. 202 00:12:15,680 --> 00:12:21,440 And my dad started it like 58 years ago and he freighter Washington bought out a commercial 203 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:22,440 bee guy. 204 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:27,360 He, he was teaching school, grew, you know, born raised on a farm, going back, not making 205 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:28,360 any money. 206 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:30,800 He's working with his brother on the farm and decided to work for a beekeeper a couple 207 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:35,440 of summers, Don Greg, it used to, it doesn't exist anymore, Silverville Honey Company, 208 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:36,440 they closed up. 209 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:41,280 We used to have all the Safeway contracts in the specific Northwest and he loved it. 210 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:44,600 And then he bought out a small beekeeper and kind of the rest is history. 211 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:45,600 He took the big chance. 212 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:46,600 I didn't take much. 213 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:51,360 He took the big loan out and then all my brothers, we just kind of all went into it. 214 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:52,360 So. 215 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:53,880 Well, hopefully y'all get along well. 216 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:55,160 For the most part. 217 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:57,280 We have family business. 218 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:00,360 I've seen a million of them over the years. 219 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:01,840 It's not an easy thing. 220 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:03,000 It is not. 221 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:05,440 And then we're right now on the third generation. 222 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:07,200 There's a nephew that wants to join in. 223 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:13,840 And so it's, yep, it's, yeah, for the, it's rewarding for the most part because we can 224 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:18,320 step in if someone has, you know, death in the family or something like that, where we 225 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:21,800 all help and we all do it the way my dad taught us. 226 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:25,960 So we're all, you know, running bees the same way and there's, we have a lot of oversight. 227 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:28,440 I guess we were with our crews. 228 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:31,320 Some of us, we divide up all summer and spring. 229 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:34,680 So there's usually a brother on every crew, not all the time, but most of the time. 230 00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:40,120 So it was good oversight versus just sending higher guys out. 231 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:43,680 Just a quick break here to thank our presenting sponsor, Man Lake. 232 00:13:43,680 --> 00:13:48,560 Hey, if your weather is anything like mine, it is freezing out. 233 00:13:48,560 --> 00:13:53,160 So let's put our creative brains together and visualize spring. 234 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:56,960 Birds chirping, flowers blooming and bees buzzing. 235 00:13:56,960 --> 00:14:02,080 Now let's visualize you enjoying beekeeping so much more with some new gear. 236 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:06,760 Or if you're new to beekeeping and not sure what you need, give Man Lake a call and their 237 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:11,280 experienced beekeepers will help every step of the way. 238 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:17,600 Protective gear, hives and tools, even packaged bees, nukes and queens, Man Lake has it all. 239 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:23,640 And don't forget your discount code MLBLOV10, it's in the show notes, for $10 off your 240 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:25,960 first $100 purchase. 241 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:28,000 I'm feeling better already. 242 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:34,800 Now, back to the guest. 243 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:36,560 So how many employees does it take? 244 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:41,720 Oh boy, in the summer, we're probably 25, you know, right there. 245 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:46,280 And then in the winter, we're heavy, just like a lot of commercial bee guys, we're heavily 246 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:48,640 dependent on H2A visa program. 247 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:52,480 So we have beekeepers from Mexico and Mexico that come up and help us. 248 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:56,080 And then we have some full-time guys here in California that stay all winter. 249 00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:00,480 I also have almonds, so some of them stay and run the almonds while I go North Dakota. 250 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:04,320 And then a few guys go to tomato harvest and stuff and then they come back and help us 251 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:05,800 after the summer. 252 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:11,400 So we do have some full-time guys here locally, but a lot of it is H2A visa program. 253 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:16,920 On a whole other subject, you mentioned when we were speaking earlier about beekeepers 254 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:19,960 generationally in your family going back. 255 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:23,760 Can you trace how far back you had beekeepers in your family? 256 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:28,040 Yeah, I could be fourth generation beekeeper, but my grandfather just farmed. 257 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:35,880 He didn't have any bees, but my great grandfather, Isaac Samuel Hyatt had bees in late 1870s 258 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:37,320 in Pace in Utah. 259 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:39,520 He's one of the first beekeepers in Utah. 260 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:44,240 So there, I know there was some before the Cox family had some before we were there, 261 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:46,680 but pretty one of the earliest ones. 262 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:50,200 But it's just too bad my grandfather just didn't have a couple of highest way I can 263 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:51,200 say them before generation. 264 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:52,200 Yeah. 265 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:53,560 Well, you skip a generation. 266 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:55,360 You'll get a couple more in now. 267 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:56,360 Yeah, skip. 268 00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:57,680 All right. 269 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:01,280 This is your opportunity, Chris. 270 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:05,240 We're going to get into a wild and crazy story in just a minute, but I want to ask you something 271 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:06,240 else first. 272 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:14,600 This is going to be, I asked a lot of hobbyists this, what brings you joy about beekeeping? 273 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:18,200 And for you, it's such a business and your whole life. 274 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:19,840 Give me some ideas. 275 00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:20,840 Why do you like it? 276 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:22,960 You could be out doing some other job. 277 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:23,960 Yeah. 278 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:26,920 I really enjoy being self-employed. 279 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,800 Like I've coached baseball for my son, softball for my girls. 280 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:35,040 I'm currently helping coach the varsity wrestling team. 281 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:38,320 I love having time to do what I want to do. 282 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:42,120 And beekeeping, a lot of what you put into it, you get out of it. 283 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:45,440 You take care of those bees for the most part, they'll take care of you. 284 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:48,480 It was way more so in the 70s, 80s and 90s with my dad. 285 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:52,160 I mean, we had 5% loss usually every winter. 286 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:56,640 But I love having time to do what I want to do, like helping and coaching, helping with 287 00:16:56,640 --> 00:17:01,120 my church and scouts over the years and going backpacking and stuff. 288 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:03,160 I can't take much time off in the summer. 289 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:06,800 Because we're just so busy, but when I can in the winter, I take more time off. 290 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:08,680 I do love being self-employed. 291 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:11,480 I love being outdoors and having things being different. 292 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:13,520 I mean, sometimes it's office work. 293 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:15,320 Sometimes it's talking to farmers. 294 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:18,440 I mean, I like that it's something different every day. 295 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:22,960 And then it's been really enjoyable the last 10 years being more little politically active, 296 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:27,200 I guess, being part of the honey producers going to Washington, DC, 297 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:31,560 meeting a lot of senators and congressmen and talking about the bee issues 298 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:34,040 and representing the bee industry. 299 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:39,040 I mean, I've spoken at Appamondia and Chile and Montreal. 300 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:41,160 And I've spoken at the Australian beekeeping. 301 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:46,680 I've spoken via Zoom to the Peruvians, Croatians, and probably a dozen different states. 302 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:48,200 And so I've met so many people. 303 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,320 I love talking to beekeepers and hearing their backstory. 304 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:53,880 That's been enjoyable and fun for me over the years. 305 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:56,160 So that's the business side. 306 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:57,760 What about the bees themselves? 307 00:17:57,760 --> 00:17:59,640 Do you enjoy working with them? 308 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:00,240 Oh, I do. 309 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:00,600 Yeah. 310 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:06,320 No, I love seeing and it's kind of like a math problem, right? 311 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:07,520 Like, is this be yard? 312 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:09,000 Is it should I make it smaller or higher? 313 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:11,120 Should we go 48 hives at 64 this summer? 314 00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:12,240 Should I not use it? 315 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:12,560 Should I? 316 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:14,400 I mean, it's kind of like a baseball team. 317 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,920 You're managing and moving pieces here and there. 318 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:18,760 And I do enjoy that part. 319 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:22,880 And I do enjoy talking to the farmers that every time they always light up, 320 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:26,680 I bring them a box of almonds and a box of honey that's made by us. 321 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:29,640 And you talk to them and their issues and problem. 322 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:30,480 That's always fun. 323 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:32,120 I do enjoy that. 324 00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:37,280 So as far as the honey producers, what kinds of issues are you working with Washington on? 325 00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:40,360 Some of our biggest things that we do is the ELAP program. 326 00:18:40,360 --> 00:18:44,560 We got that going some years ago and got the program on cap. 327 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:48,720 And that's the emergency livestock assistance program that beyond whatever, 328 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,320 24% in the number fluctuates. 329 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:56,360 If you lose highs beyond the percentage, the high mortality, you get payments. 330 00:18:56,360 --> 00:19:00,360 So I mean, we really don't have like crop insurance like other row crop farmers. 331 00:19:00,360 --> 00:19:04,360 So this is the one thing that we've I think it's really help keep the business 332 00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:07,960 of many of our members and the industry as a whole afloat. 333 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:10,040 And that's taken it takes maintenance. 334 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:14,200 I mean, it takes work on Capitol Hill and have champions, Senator Tester, Senator 335 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:18,720 Hogan, Senator Thune, another congressman to keep this funded. 336 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:22,240 Our other big success was the dumping suit we won recently. 337 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:28,040 The honey producers 20, 25 years ago, in 2001, won the China dumping suit. 338 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:30,480 And that got doubled the price of honey. 339 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:35,760 Same thing just four years ago when we won this latest dumping suit against Vietnam, 340 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:39,000 India, Brazil and Argentina, the price of honey doubled. 341 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:43,240 It's softened now, which we know the dumping suits are expensive band-aids, 342 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:47,720 but we're working on some legislation or something known as the high back to 343 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:52,760 we're probably going to re submit it here soon with Senator, 344 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:55,000 I mean, Congressman Stubey out of Florida. 345 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:57,840 So we just want a level playing field for us. 346 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:00,000 We want the legitimate honey. 347 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:01,640 We want some testing. 348 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:04,440 We do know there's a lot of fake honey coming in and 349 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:08,560 being mixed with our honey and calling it any kind of sticky stuff. 350 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:12,160 I mean, it's coming in at 70, 80 cents from Vietnam, India. 351 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:14,600 I mean, such a low price. 352 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:15,920 I mean, how can you compete that level? 353 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:17,200 And is it legitimate honey? 354 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:19,360 And some of it isn't legitimate honey. 355 00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:24,720 So we're trying to help the consumer and plus keep ourselves in business. 356 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:28,480 Cuz I mean, we only produce about a quarter of what the domestic 357 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:30,520 production consumption is. 358 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:32,120 We used to be way higher. 359 00:20:32,120 --> 00:20:35,040 But with all the bee loss and all the habitat loss, 360 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:41,240 the CRP acres going away or corn and soy, our honey production just keeps going down. 361 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:45,320 So we, the honey producers, yeah, we're trying to get more habitat. 362 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:50,600 We're access like in Utah was an epicenter of the Xerces society trying to 363 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:53,920 prevent beekeepers going on national forest service land. 364 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:56,080 We've been very involved with that. 365 00:20:56,080 --> 00:21:00,600 But yeah, the honey price is really our focus as of now and 366 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:04,480 what we're gonna do to try to keep beekeepers in business get a fair price. 367 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:07,240 But there's always a problem going on, it seems like it. 368 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:10,520 But yeah, we have a pretty good presence in DC. 369 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:13,320 Well, we appreciate all the work you're doing there. 370 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:15,400 Tell me about the Honey Bee Health Coalition. 371 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,800 I think I have a pretty good idea, but why should people get to know it? 372 00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:26,000 Well, it's a good group of trade groups like corn, soy, canola guys. 373 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:31,640 And then there's the registrants, Bear and Sagenta along with beekeepers and 374 00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:35,560 researchers and we're trying to solve problems of bee health. 375 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:41,280 And it's a good coalition that when we write letters and visit and 376 00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:45,120 talk to people on Capitol Hill about our problems, it has a lot more weight than 377 00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:46,880 it's just one beekeeping group. 378 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:51,760 We have agribusinesses and researchers and other people behind us and trade groups. 379 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:55,040 So this group has been valuable over the last whatever, 10 years. 380 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:57,640 And like I mentioned, the Borough and Might Guide is good. 381 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:04,440 They have best management practices for many crops, from corn to soy to blueberries and 382 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:08,760 now apples for farmers to know what to do and when not to spray. 383 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:14,160 So they're not killing bees when the hives are near their crops. 384 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:17,560 So it's been a valuable group. 385 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:19,480 Explain the Borough and Might Guide. 386 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:23,520 The Borough and Might Guide, there was many different experts you could say and 387 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:29,160 some commercial beekeepers that we all had our input on just the basic, 388 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:34,440 this is a guide of what you win and when and what you should treat with in 389 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:36,440 different regions of the country. 390 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:40,920 And it's just a good blueprint for any new beekeeper to know how to keep your 391 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:42,640 mites down. 392 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:47,360 And it is the most downloaded guide, I think, in the world for Borough and 393 00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:48,360 Mites. 394 00:22:48,360 --> 00:22:52,280 So it's been a valuable resource especially for new beekeepers. 395 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:56,200 Well, one thing I like about it is it doesn't just say, here's what you do. 396 00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:57,200 Yeah. 397 00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,720 It asks questions like, how organic do you want to be? 398 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:03,680 What kind of temperatures are you having? 399 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:06,680 Where are your colonies at at this point right now? 400 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:10,880 And then it gives you a handful of options on treatments from there. 401 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:17,520 And I find that very, very helpful for to help me make good decisions for my beekeeping. 402 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:18,880 It gives you multiple. 403 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:23,360 Some guys are a little more or muc acids, some are more oxalic acids. 404 00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:27,120 And yeah, it gives you different options and different ideas. 405 00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:31,840 And it must be pretty good for how many, when we see how many downloads it has. 406 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:36,520 And something along those lines that you touched on just a little bit earlier was 407 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:41,200 that one treatment may work this year and may not work next year. 408 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:45,560 Can you explain why that is and where people go after that? 409 00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,240 Well, amitrized resistance is a real thing. 410 00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:51,320 And just like with Roundup, there's resistance. 411 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:55,320 If you keep using the same product year after year, the same thing with amitrized, 412 00:23:55,320 --> 00:24:00,160 same thing that happened with cumafose years ago, we use cumafose like it's a pyrethroid. 413 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:01,760 We use it like twice. 414 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:08,000 And the third year, it's just like we had big, 60% loss because the miticide didn't kill the mites. 415 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:09,760 It had already gotten resistance. 416 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:14,640 But we're finding finally after all these years amitrized, there's amitrized resistance. 417 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:17,360 And so that's why rotating is so important. 418 00:24:17,360 --> 00:24:21,840 So you just can't put in those strips every year and just say, hey, I think I'm good, 419 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:28,280 but you need to rotate and keep up with the latest science and the latest products 420 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,840 because you got to rotate between three, four different chemicals probably. 421 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:34,320 I think that is super good advice. 422 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:39,560 All right, give us a wild and crazy beekeeping story that you have had, Chris. 423 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:44,080 Let's see. 20 years ago, we used to run bees kind of near Fargo, North Dakota, 424 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:47,360 Valley Cities, the name of the town, Eastern North Dakota. 425 00:24:47,360 --> 00:24:49,360 And it was like end of October. 426 00:24:49,360 --> 00:24:55,760 And I was there over a weekend to get to wherever three loads, I think, 1500 livestock piled and shipped. 427 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,600 And the snow, we had this crazy blizzard. 428 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:05,720 And I remember the chains on my semi, my 24 foot bed freight liner, I did not take them off all weekend. 429 00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:06,720 Didn't matter where you went. 430 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:11,440 You just left the chains on perky lots, side roads, main highways, freeway. 431 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:12,760 It was just nuts. 432 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:15,480 Freezing our rear ends off. 433 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:20,000 And I can remember there was even one yard I came and did the turn. 434 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:24,760 I did it probably at 25 miles an hour because if I knew if I stopped, I would have been stuck in the deep snow. 435 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:28,080 So it's just crazy that I've had that experience. 436 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:32,200 And then I can remember one farmer, we couldn't get to the bee yard. 437 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:32,920 It was that bad. 438 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:34,040 His name was Robert E. Lee. 439 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:35,920 Kind of crazy that that was his name. 440 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:38,800 And I called him and he said, I'll clean it out for you. 441 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:43,520 And he, with his big John Deere scraped the whole path, like almost like a freeway around the B.R. 442 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:44,400 I could get in and get out. 443 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:46,080 I sent him a check and he never cashed it. 444 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:48,400 He was a really cool guy, really cool guy. 445 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:53,120 But that was a crazy weekend of getting bees out of the snow miserable. 446 00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:57,040 But we ended up getting stuck two, three times getting farmers to pull us out. 447 00:25:57,040 --> 00:25:58,920 But boy, that was just like a crazy adventure. 448 00:25:58,920 --> 00:25:59,920 I won't forget. 449 00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:00,440 Yeah. 450 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:03,800 And something that only a commercial beekeeper is going to run into. 451 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:04,640 Yeah. 452 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:07,960 What other kinds of issues are commercial beekeepers dealing with? 453 00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:15,000 Kind of like I mentioned, the access to public lands is becoming a big issue. 454 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:22,560 The Xerces is this nonprofit that has become like the lone consultant for NRCS on habitat issues. 455 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:26,360 And they do some good work, but they've chosen to kind of go after us. 456 00:26:26,360 --> 00:26:32,400 The low hanging fruit, even though like livestock on the forest service is way harder on native bees 457 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:34,720 with the ground dwelling bees than we are. 458 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:40,120 And Diana Cox Foster at the Logan lab, she's about ready to publish her paper. 459 00:26:40,120 --> 00:26:45,600 She did three years study in the Wasatch Mountains and didn't really see the competition or native impact. 460 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:50,040 But that is a big talking point they are using and they're hitting us over the head on it. 461 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:55,480 And we've had numbers of lost permits to run bee yards in Washington state, Arizona. 462 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,480 And now California looks like it's also. 463 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:06,120 So it's disappointing because I think it's like 55 million acres of forest service ground. 464 00:27:06,120 --> 00:27:09,720 Beekeepers have like 0.01%. 465 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:13,960 What kind of damage could that actually happen to so little honeybees? 466 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:17,120 But they just want to keep going to this. 467 00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:22,520 And it just kind of seems like it's a fundraising environmental group that wants to use it. 468 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:27,200 But we just want to make people, they're aware of it because we hear it all the time. 469 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:32,240 Like there's teachers in elementary school now saying, honeybees bad for native bees. 470 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:33,080 Keep them away. 471 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:35,080 And it's just, it's terrible. 472 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:37,480 But that's one issue that we've kind of confronted. 473 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:40,360 They've been good about getting a lot of news coverage. 474 00:27:40,360 --> 00:27:41,560 Yeah, they have been. 475 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:42,440 Yes, they're funded. 476 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:43,520 They're well funded. 477 00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:45,640 Yeah, we've seen it all over the place. 478 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:47,520 And I get asked about it all the time. 479 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:49,040 You probably do too. 480 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:53,560 Because European honeybees technically are not native here. 481 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:55,080 When do we get naturalized? 482 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:55,440 Right? 483 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:58,920 I mean, they've been here three, what, 300 years for? 484 00:27:58,920 --> 00:27:59,400 Yeah. 485 00:27:59,400 --> 00:27:59,680 Yeah. 486 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:01,440 But there's fossil records. 487 00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:07,160 They found some apis mellifora in like the desert of Arizona and it had some, they think, 488 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:11,240 DNA proving that no honeybees have been here the whole time. 489 00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:12,600 So, yeah. 490 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:14,440 That wouldn't surprise me one bit. 491 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:20,280 The other thing that my logical mind goes to is whatever is good for honeybees is also 492 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:21,600 good for the native bees. 493 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:27,760 In other words, if we're figuring out how to not use too many pesticides, that's good 494 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:29,280 for the native bees. 495 00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:34,400 If we have clean water and good forage and things like that. 496 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:40,040 I mean, even on my property here, I'm on a five acre lot and we plant so many things 497 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:41,440 for the honeybees. 498 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:48,000 But a lot of times I can go out and look at something closely and I'm going, wow, it is 499 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:54,240 covered with all of these pollinators, these little bees that look kind of like flies that 500 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:57,000 I know are a native bee here. 501 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,560 And my honeybees aren't even on these plants right now. 502 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:05,480 And in a couple of weeks that may shift a little bit or I see them working together 503 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:06,960 on the same plants. 504 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:13,880 And so I know that, for example, just in my particular situation, things that we do for 505 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,960 the honeybees helps the other bees. 506 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:18,880 It's not running them out of town. 507 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:19,880 Yeah. 508 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:25,480 A really good guy that I know from the pollinator partnership used to always say, rising tide 509 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:26,720 raises all boats. 510 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:28,960 We need habitat across the board. 511 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:29,960 We're working on it. 512 00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:35,320 But yeah, just more concern and try to combat this would help, I think. 513 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:36,320 Any other issues? 514 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:41,000 Well, the last thing I would say is with President Trump, there's a lot of good things going 515 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:42,000 on. 516 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:44,840 We always think there's been a lot of waste, fraud and abuse in the government. 517 00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:49,120 But unfortunately, when he's cut some of the researchers, like Friday night, I talked 518 00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:54,280 to one of the researchers at the Baton Rouge ARS lab and he was very down and sad that 519 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:57,760 some of his colleagues have already got axed or took the buyout. 520 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:02,080 And we're just like, no, we're needed for national food supply and we're having these 521 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:03,560 record losses. 522 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:09,400 There's no other livestock group even close to the losses that we are suffering from. 523 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:11,960 So even with the bird flu, it's not even close. 524 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:13,960 So it's like, we need this money. 525 00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:16,000 We need this research. 526 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:17,560 We hope they can be restored. 527 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:19,560 That's probably my other take, I guess. 528 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:22,240 Well, Chris, I appreciate it so very much. 529 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:24,160 Thank you for being a friend of the show. 530 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,600 We need to have you back on from time to time. 531 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:27,600 No problem. 532 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:28,600 We'll do. 533 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:30,600 Thanks, Eric. 534 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:39,000 Now, as promised, the headline from the Honey Bee Health Coalition reads, Survey Reveals 535 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:47,440 Over 1.1 Million Honey Bee Colonies Lost, Raising Alarm for Pollination and Agriculture. 536 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:53,120 To summarize a few key points from the survey, and this is for the number of colonies lost 537 00:30:53,120 --> 00:31:02,800 between June of 2024 and February 2025, hobby beekeepers lost an average of 50% of their 538 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:10,600 colonies, side liners, an average of 54%, and commercial operations, which usually have 539 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:15,760 significantly fewer losses than hobbyists and side liners. 540 00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:17,480 Here's the alarming thing. 541 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:24,080 Right now, their number is actually 62% colony losses this year. 542 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:26,540 So here's the predicted impact. 543 00:31:26,540 --> 00:31:35,360 The colony losses at $200 per colony equals $224.8 million. 544 00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:41,600 Total economic impact to beekeepers, including pollination contracts, colonies not accounted 545 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:49,000 for in the survey, et cetera, totals $634.7 million. 546 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:54,600 And that's not even taking into account lost honey sales from those colonies. 547 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:59,720 And the thing that I find almost mind-boggling is no one yet has even started adding up the 548 00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:06,720 total economic impact that will be felt when all men's and so many other crops have lower 549 00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:10,520 yields due to insufficient pollination. 550 00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:16,200 I'll conclude with this quote from Zach Browning, a fourth generation commercial beekeeper and 551 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:18,680 board chair of Project APIS-M. 552 00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:25,320 Quote, the scale of these losses is completely unsustainable. 553 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:30,920 Honeybees are the backbone of our food system, pollinating the crops that feed our nation. 554 00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:36,520 If we continue to see losses at this rate, we simply won't be able to sustain current 555 00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:38,680 food production levels. 556 00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:46,320 The industry must look inward and outward for solutions to chronic bee health failure. 557 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:53,120 Project APIS-M will be holding a free public webinar on February 28th, and you can find 558 00:32:53,120 --> 00:33:00,960 the link to that in today's show notes. 559 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:06,600 Thanks again for joining us here on Bee Love Beekeeping, presented by Man Lake. 560 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:12,040 Another great place for more information on everything related to this podcast is in our 561 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:13,640 email newsletter. 562 00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:17,680 You can sign up for it for free at belovebekeeping.com. 563 00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:21,640 And remember, if you're not just in it for the honey or the money, you're in it for the 564 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:22,640 love. 565 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:44,600 See you next week.