Will commercial beekeeping survive the next 10 years? If you were starting a commercial operation from scratch today, would you still do it? In this episode of The Pollen Nation Podcast, we look at the business side of beekeeping: colony losses, almond pollination risk, scale, genetics and technology, and whether honey alone can pay the bills. The big idea is that having enough colonies isn’t the same as having enough financially sustainable beekeeping businesses to maintain them.

Sources mentioned:U.S. Beekeeping Survey, April 2025 to April 2026: https://www.apiaryinspectors.org/US-beekeeping-survey-25-26

Ecological Economics: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800924002489

USDA Honey Report, March 2026:https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Todays_Reports/reports/hony0326.pdf

Join the conversation: If you were starting a commercial beekeeping operation from scratch today, would you still do it? Tell me why or why not in the comments. I’d especially like to hear from beekeepers at different scales and in different parts of the country. Subscribe to The Pollen Nation Podcast for science based beekeeping education with a commercial focus. New episodes cover the science, economics, and realities of running bees for a living.

#beekeeping #commercialbeekeeping #honeybees #pollination #almondpollination #varroa #agriculture

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