Honey production across the U.S. and Hawaii dropped in 2021, however, the beekeeping industry and craft remains popular on the Big Island.
Some 126 million pounds of honey was produced across the nation in 2021, down 14% from 147 million pounds in 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Hawaii produced about 1.39 million pounds in 2021, down 11.4% from 1.57 in 2020. Production in 2021 in Hawaii, however, was up about 9% from 2019.
While the amount of honey produced dropped, prices increased by 21% nationally to $2.54 per pound, compared to $2.10 per pound in 2020. In Hawaii, the cost of a pound of honey increased by 30% between 2020 and 2021 with the average cost for a pound of honey in 2021 being $2.21.
All told, in 2021, the national industry was valued at nearly $30.1 million with Hawaii accounting for about $2.7 million of that.
Despite the decrease in production noted by the USDA, Hawaiian Queen Co.’s output remains steady at over 660 pounds of honey produced annually by the six million bees that call the 2,000 hives on the South Kona property home. That’s in addition to rearing queen bees shipped around the U.S. and Canada.
“Beekeeping has gone up in Hawaii and in the United States,” said Michael Krones, founder of Hawaiian Queen Co., Hawaii’s only queen bee producer with a dedicated breeding program. “People like keeping bees.”
And the state Department of Agriculture agrees.
“Bees in the state of Hawaii are currently doing well,” said Darcy Oishi, director of Pest Control. “And while we do not have information that allows us to draw the population estimates that NASS does, we do see a general trend of an increase in the number of beekeepers.”
However, COVID-19 hit the beekeeping business hard, and beekeepers faced staffing issues, rising cost of supplies due to supply chain shortages (wood for hives and hive parts especially), and competition from offshore honey (both foreign and domestic).
“We have been seeing our honey bee-related industries being negatively impacted by a variety of COVID related issues,” Oishi said.
According to the state Department of Agriculture’s Apiary Program, it’s estimated that one in three bites of food relies on honey bee pollination.
“Having healthy honey bees in Hawaii has great value at home and impacts agriculture worldwide. In addition to the variety of special products Hawaii’s honey bees produce including honey, wax, and pollen, the state is a key provider of queen bees to the mainland U.S. and Canada. Hawaii’s year round queen rearing capacity is a critical resource to North American agriculture which relies heavily on honey bee pollination,” the program’s website states.
Queen bee production in Hawaii is valued at an estimated $10 million per year, according to the program. The state provides about 25% of queen bees shipped to the mainland and about 75% of the queens shipped to Canada. Demand still exceeds supply.
According to the USDA, the average prices paid in 2021 for honey bee queens, packages of bees, and nucs (or partially developed colonies) was $20, $91, and $125, respectively.
Krones, who has lived in Hawaii for 25 years and started his beekeeping business in the mid-1990s, has always been fascinated by the bees.
“It all started when I was in Costa Rica . I had a small piece of property growing citrus. And I thought, maybe I could have some honey too. I was always fascinated by the bees,” he said.
But beekeeping is no easy job, especially, raising and breeding Queen bees.
“It’s work, it’s a lot of hard work,” Krones explained. “We need to catch the queen bees in mating. We need to grab her and put her in a cage.” And, employees get stung, despite the beekeeping suits they wear.
The queen bees are special. Each colony chooses its own queen bee, and there can be only one. In some cases, the new queen kills off her mother or the former queen, so she can rule the hive.
“The bees decide,” Krones said.
The key to good beekeeping?
Being very gentle, and also, productive, Krones said. He also added that the strongest bees are the ones raised by humans.
Email Megan Hadley at mhadley@westhawaiitoday.com.