Drought and habitat losses drive big drop in South Dakota honey production

Clovers and pure prairie make South Dakota a really perfect place for honeybees to thrive, however dry situations and habitat loss are making it troublesome to supply honey. Manufacturing decreased 18% final yr.

Doug Deffenbaugh and his spouse, Brenda, personal Deep Creek Honey.

Deffenbaugh mentioned they plan to have round 200 hives close to Wall Lake this summer time when the bees arrive from Texas. The Deffenbaughs promote honey to companies together with the native espresso chain Coffea in Sioux Falls, however most of their honey revenue comes from an honor system. A honey stand is located on the finish of their driveway, full of honey and a espresso can for patrons to pay.

“We maintain honey in our honor system 24/7 and 12 months,” Doug Deffenbaugh mentioned. “There’s all the time honey in there. It lifts up and there’s a espresso can in there and individuals are trustworthy.”

Over almost 5 many years, Deffenbaugh has watched the quantity of honey produced from his hives lower. He mentioned only a few many years in the past, beekeepers would lose 1-2% of their hives over the summer time. Now, they’ll lose as a lot as 20%.

“It makes it very troublesome to boost a honey crop understanding that there’s all these various things that fight elevating a honey crop,” Deffenbaugh mentioned. “Like parasites, mites and chemical utilized in area, and climate situations and simply attempting to maintain a colony alive.”

Deffenbaugh mitigates these points by searching for the very best places to boost his hives. South Dakota beekeepers need to register the placement of their hives with the state, which requires them to search out the very best places early within the season.

State apiary program specialist Bob Reiners mentioned the extreme drought situations throughout the state are responsible for dwindling honey manufacturing.

“When the crops don’t get moisture to develop or blossom and supply nectar and pollen, it’s fairly troublesome to make a honey crop,” he mentioned.

The worth of honey elevated from $1.77 per pound in 2020 to $2.28 in 2021. However Reiners mentioned beekeepers usually are not reaping the rewards.

“Every time there’s a brief crop it all the time retains the value up stronger, which sadly many of the guys don’t get to profit from once they get a very good value as a result of they don’t have a crop,” Reiners mentioned. “It’s sort of like a variety of issues in agriculture proper now. Commodity costs are up, but when they weren’t fortunate sufficient to make a crop, they actually can’t profit from it.”

Kelvin Adee’s honey farm close to Bruce has been described because the nation’s largest, and habitat loss is his primary concern. Land within the Conservation Reserve Program is a big contributor to bee pollination. The federal program pays farmers to dedicate marginal land to habitat as an alternative of crop manufacturing.

“These contracts have expired, and so they haven’t been renewed so there’s much less forage on the market accessible to honeybees and different pollinators as properly, and it additionally results our pheasant inhabitants,” Adee mentioned.

The American Honey Producers Affiliation and the Sioux Honey Affiliation filed antidumping petitions and a lawsuit final yr. Adee mentioned it’s to forestall international nations from promoting adulterated honey within the U.S. priced under the manufacturing value. The businesses can accomplish that by mixing in cheaper merchandise like corn syrup with honey to scale back prices.

The lawsuit may assist smaller producers like Deffenbaugh keep in enterprise. He mentioned it may additionally assist the patron.

“Your native honey is your finest supply of honey to your pure immune system,” Deffenbaugh mentioned. “It really works finest.”

Consuming native honey builds immunity to allergens and different pollens that plague South Dakotans.

The way forward for beekeeping within the state is unsure, however Deffenbaugh will maintain scraping honeycombs.

“It’s in my blood,” Deffenbaugh mentioned. “They’re simply fascinating to work with.”

South Dakota produced about 12 million kilos of honey final yr, trailing solely North Dakota, which produced about 28 million kilos.