Song Remains the Same for Colony Collapse Disorder

I’ll never forget seeing a headline back in 2009 on our website, GrowingProduce.com, “Colony Collapse Disorder On The Decline.” For those who don’t recall, the term Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), appeared in a lot of headlines in the years before 2009, and it seemed like the scourge of honeybees would never be defeated. Unfortunately, that appears to be truer than researchers, beekeepers, and growers would like.

CCD, for those who don’t recall, is characterized by the complete absence of bees in dead colonies or in apiaries. The cause of CCD is still unknown. The Almond Board of California (ABC) was made aware of alarming reports of nationwide honey bee colony losses as the 2025 almond pollination season got underway last month.

According to data from Project Apis m., colony losses have exceeded 50% on average, with some operations experiencing up to 100% losses in the past year. Project Apis m., a Utah-based nonprofit founded to drive science to deliver innovation for healthy bees, is investigating the situation along with the American Beekeeping Federation, the American Honey Producers Association, and Adee Honey Farms of South Dakota.

While CCD hasn’t made headlines the past several years, it obviously never went away, and is on the increase. According to Adee Honey Farms, in the past few years, the average national loss for beekeepers has gone from around 8% to over 40% of their hives every year.

When summer honey production is done, mostly in the Upper Midwest, many beekeepers send their bees to California for almond bloom. Adee Honey Farms, the nation’s largest beekeeper with 80,000 hives, sends almost 160 semi-truck loads of their honey bees to the Golden State. The bees stay in California until the almonds bloom for pollination before coming back home for honey season.

The severe losses echo past CCD events and could significantly impact pollination services and food production. The beekeeping and agricultural communities must work together to assess the scope of the issue, determine possible causes, and implement solutions to protect honey bee health. Efforts include gathering data, analyzing colony samples, and mobilizing resources to support beekeepers and ensure stable pollination services, according to the ABC, which issued the following statement:

“The Almond Board of California (ABC) is aware of commercial beekeepers reporting hive losses. The United States Department of Agriculture and beekeeping organizations are working to gather data and assess potential causes. We take our partnership with the beekeeping industry seriously and are prepared to support with additional resources once we learn more.”

Of all the commodity groups, the ABC has the most at stake when it comes to pollination. First of all, almonds bloom in February, among the very first crops of the season. The industry is also one of the largest, as there are about 1.5 million acres of almonds in California, more than four times the approximately 360,000 acres of apples spread across the entire country.

The state’s 8,000 almond growers can help battle CCD by keeping the bees in their orchards as healthy and well-fed as possible through planting cover crops that attract bees. Research shows that planting cover crops or allowing natural forage to grow between the tree rows and/or around the outside of the orchard does not compete with almond blossoms, according to the ABC. Cover crops, as well as planting hedgerows, provide improved nutrition for honey bees, increasing colony strength, and attracting other pollinators.