Despite a recent rebound, Minnesota bee farmers are facing a year of hardship

Despite promising new data, Minnesota bee farmers are facing a season of hardship.

According to new state data, the number of bee colonies in Minnesota grew nearly 32% in the last five years. But Ames Bee Farm owner Brian Fredrickson says that's mostly due to a new homesteading trend.

"There is a huge movement for homesteading, you know, all over up here," Fredrickson says. "And part of that is, you know, to have a few animals, grow your own vegetables and a lot of people add some bees to that."

He says the struggle for real working bee farmers is a loss of habitat.

"Commercial beekeepers, there's about 600, that's all that's left in the United States that make a full-time living," explians Fredrickson. "There's probably around 100 or so of those here in Minnesota, maybe a few more. We need more habitat."

The weather has not helped either. Fredrickson says the excessive rain across Minnesota in May and June made it very difficult for pollinators.

"We had the record, you know, June flood, there were a lot of days where the bees weren't flying for half the days," he says. "It was cloudy, it was wet. The flowers weren't as attractive as the nectar was more watered down. We didn't really make anything here during the month of June, which normally is a good month."

Frederickson also says a large share of honey in the U.S. is imported from overseas so buying local can go a long way towards helping local bee farmers.

Pollinators like honey bees are crucial to pollinate flowering plants. Without them, we lose nutritious foods like fruits, nuts and vegetables. Bee farmers and wild bees are necessary to the ecosystem and they're struggling.

A study released this past April showed that Minnesota’s bee population is in trouble after researchers discovered signs of inbreeding and their overall numbers dropping.

The Rusty Patched Bumble Bees have been listed as endangered since 2017 and new research shows things haven’t gotten much better since then.

University of Minnesota researcher Elaine Evans says if things continue in this direction, it’s unclear what the ripple effect could be.

“There may be other species that are then impacted and eventually, we know that pollinators are really important for the food that we eat and for supporting pollination of most of the plants that are out there,” Evans said.