United States Department of Agriculture found in its latest annual study that the US honeybee population has fallen a drastic 42%. That loss rate is too high for the honeybee to survive. The rate of loss since April 2014 is the second highest lost rate in nine years, and the first time entomologists have seen more bees die in the summer than in winter. Beekeepers spilt their colonies to recover bee losses, so the number of hives is up to 2.74 million from 2.64 million in 2014. But that says nothing about bee health which is declining. Some states experienced hive loss of over 60% and included unusual losses of queen bees.
Most scientists believe the bees are dying due to a combination of stress factors: mite infestation, poor nutrition and pesticides, especially neonicotinoids. The systemic pesticides affects the bees' nervous system, interfering with food gathering. The EU has banned use of the three most common neonicotinoid pesticides in 2013; the EPA has yet to take action banning neonicotinoid use. It has announced a moratorium on new registrations of the pesticide class while it completes its new assessment of the risk to pollinators. To any sober-minded person whose economic welfare does not depend on Bayer, Monsanto or Syngenta, the answer to the disasterous bee die-off is to stop poisoning the environment with ever-larger doses of chemicals and return to organic agriculture practices in use before the chemical revolution.