The U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service reported March 14 that honey production in the U.S. was down 9 percent for operations with five or more colonies in 2017.
In 2017 operations of five or more colonies produced 148 million pounds of honey from 2.67 million colonies. That’s 4 percent fewer colonies than there were in 2016. The honey yield per colony was down 5 percent, averaging 55.3 pounds. Producer honey stocks were 30.6 million pounds on Dec. 15, down 26 percent from a year earlier, and excluding those held under the commodity loan program.
Operations of fewer than five colonies were also down in production, yielding 599,000 pounds of honey in 2017, down 22 percent from 2016. There were 20,000 colonies in this category, down 17 percent from 2016. Among operations of fewer than five colonies there was an average yield of 30 pounds per colony, down 6 percent from 2016.
U.S. honey prices in 2017 were 215.6 cents per pound, reflecting portions sold through cooperatives, private and retail channels.
Pollination income for 2017, for operations with five or more colonies was $435 million, up 29 percent from 2016.
North Dakota led the list of honey-producing states in 2017, with 455,000 honey-producing colonies yielding 74 pounds of honey per colony, for a total of 33.6 million pounds of honey produced in the state. That was a value of $63.6 million.
California came in second for number of colonies, with 335,000 honey-producing colonies yielding 41 pounds per colony. California bees made a total of 13 million pounds of honey, for a value of $28.7 million.
Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached at 620-227-1807 or [email protected].
