The USDA Economic Research Service released the June Sugar and Sweeteners Outlook on June 18. Though the monthly report is focused on sugar prices and production and import volume, this month’s report also included key reviews of both the U.S. honey market and the market for honeybee pollination services. As it turns out, the value of pollination in 2024 eclipsed that of honey for the third year in a row.
“The honeybee pollination service market has become increasingly valuable for domestic beekeepers,” read the report by ERS agricultural economist Vidalina Abadam and research agricultural economist D. Adeline Yeh. “Since 2022, the total value of pollination service in the United States has surpassed that of honey production.”
In 2024, the total value of pollination services was just over $400 million. Growers paid for honeybees to pollinate 1.7 million acres, what the report called “total paid pollination acreage.” This compares to the $362 million value of the 134 million pounds of domestic honey produced in 2024.
California, Almonds and Pollination
One crop in one state dominates the pollinator services market: California almonds.
“Almond pollination alone generated $325.8 million in 2024, or about 81 percent of total U.S. pollination service receipts,” the report read.
Some of that value was because of the sheer volumes of honeybees needed to pollinate California almonds. An estimated 2 million beehives are transported to California to pollinate the almond orchards. That represents effectively all of total colonies in the U.S. at the beginning of 2024, according to the report.
This level of colony density needed for almond pollination makes the early reports from 2025 showing extreme colony loss, estimated at 1.1 million, all the more concerning. Researchers have linked the extreme losses earlier this year to alarmingly high levels of viral infections — vectored by Varroa mites with resistant genes to a common treatment.
The volumes of bees needed to effectively pollinate almonds, and the need to truck the colonies to California, also meant the crop saw the highest average pollination fee in 2024 at about $181 per colony, almost triple the average of $66 per colony for all other crops. On a per-acre basis, it cost $305 per acre to pollinate California almonds.
“The higher cost of almond pollination is largely attributed to the crop’s early blooming season (which requires beekeepers to bring honeybee colonies out of dormancy), the non-marketability of almond honey, and the larger number of colonies needed per acre relative to other pollinator-dependent crops,” the report read.
Pollination in Other States and Crops
While California and almonds specifically dominated the pollinator services market in 2024, other regions had their own high-value crops for pollinators.
According to the December 2024 Cost of Pollination report, the following were the top crops and across-the-region costs for pollination service costs throughout U.S. regions:
- Northeast — Pollination services for cranberries totaled $5.59 million. The price per colony and price per acre pollinated for the region as a whole were $88.80 and $188, respectively.
- Southeast — Blueberries topped the region, with total pollination services at $3.6 million. For the region overall, colonies cost $68 and $144 per acre pollinated.
- South — The top crop for pollinator service costs was watermelons at $1.95 million. Across the region, colonies averaged $69.60 dollars per colony, and it cost $85.50 to pollinate an acre.
- Midwest and Mountain — Apples dominated the pollinator services market in this region, representing $167,000. The price per colony averaged $59.60 and per-acre costs averaged $54.70.
- Pacific Northwest — Apples dominated this region as well, representing $6.28 million. Across the state, colony costs were $58.10 per colony, and it averaged $56.70 per acre to pollinate.
Your next read:
